2024 Election Edition: Young Men Swing Toward Trump

But Trump’s surprisingly strong performance was due to rising support across the board

Roughly 10 months ago I wrote a piece titled: “Will Young Men Vote For Trump?” in which I speculated whether young voters would undergo a political decoupling in 2024. Now post-election polls confirm that is precisely what happened. Fifty-six percent of young men voted for Trump in the 2024 election according to the Associated Press’ VoteCast poll. Only 40 percent of young women voted for Trump, a 16-point gender gap.  

For the last two years, I’ve been writing about the critical fissure that is opening up between young men and women. Not only in politics, but in their social attitudes and personal experiences as well. But the political divide is stark. This past Tuesday, Trump received more support from young men than any Republican candidate in more than two decades. 

Looking back over the past few elections, the Wall Street Journal found that the gender gap among young Americans expanded significantly this year, increasing from 17 points in 2020 to 31 points in 2024.