New Film Gives Context to Trump’s Wide Margin of Victory Among Young Male Voters
As analysts continue to comb through exit polling data to try to make sense of last week’s presidential election results, one thing seems certain: a critical factor in Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris was a groundswell of support among young men.
According to the Associated Press, young men supported Trump by 13 points, essentially flipping the 15-point margin of victory Joe Biden ran up with young men in 2020.¹
For author and political analyst Jackson Katz, the creator and co-author of our new film The Man Card: 50 Years of Gender, Power, and the American Presidency, it’s the latest indication of a radical shift in voting patterns more than five decades in the making.
“In the countless election post-mortems still to come,” Katz said yesterday, “the commentariat – scholars and pundits alike – should never lose sight of the fact that male grievance, especially white male grievance, is the beating heart of Trumpist populism, and has been from the start. But it’s also important to remember that right-wing attempts to tap into white male grievance long predate Trumpism. As we explore in depth in The Man Card, the GOP has been marketing itself as the ‘men’s party’ for the past 45 years. The fact more and more men of color, especially working-class men of color, supported Trump in this election only shows how successful this strategy has been. Moving forward, I think political strategists, regardless of party affiliation, ignore these longstanding trends at their own peril.”
The Man Card is now available to purchase for your classes in a variety of formats.
Directed by award-winning filmmakers Peter Hutchison and Lucas Sabean, The Man Card ranges across five decades of presidential campaigns — right up to the 2024 campaign between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — to show how political operatives in both parties have weaponized regressive ideas about manhood to position their candidates as “tough,” cast their opponents as “soft,” and appeal to working-class white-male voters, in particular, at the level of identity rather than policy.
The Man Card is required viewing for anyone – across the ideological spectrum – who wants to understand how traditional ideas about masculinity and power have been shaping American presidential elections for decades, and how candidates for the nation’s highest office – women as well as men – will need to confront and navigate these deeply gendered dynamics moving forward.
1. “How This Core Voter Group Delivered Trump the 2024 Election,” Wall Street Journal YouTube Channel, Nov. 8, 2024.
Praise for The Man Card
“A vitally important and timely new film.”
— Jean Kilbourne | Senior Scholar, Wellesley Centers for Women
“Fast-paced and compelling … Sure to generate a lively discussion about politics and masculinity in gender studies and American government courses.”
— Dr. Valerie Sperling | Co-author of Trumping Politics as Usual: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections
“Essential viewing for not only every gender and politics course, but for any and all students of American politics….Raises important questions about the inherent and not-so-subtle masculinity of the American presidency and what that means for women seeking the office.”
— Dr. Lori Cox Han, PhD | Author of Women, Power, and Politics
“Shows how Presidential politics in the U.S. has been driven not just by dog-whistle messages against people of color and women, but also by overt endorsements of narrow, destructive and unhealthy conceptions of white men’s masculinity.”
— Dr. Michael A. Messner | University of Southern California | Author of Guys Like Me: Five Wars, Five Veterans for Peace
“Methodically shows that Trump’s strategy to connect masculinity to presidential politics is nothing new. This is a must-see documentary for anyone interested in American politics and contemporary democratic struggles.”
— Dr. Farida Jalalzai | Professor of Political Science, Associate Dean of Global Initiatives and Engagement, Virginia Tech University
“A vitally important documentary to more completely understand the gendered and racialized ideologies shaping political polarization in the U.S.”
— Dr. Tristan Bridges | Associate Professor of Sociology at University of California, Santa Barbara and co-editor of Men and Masculinities journal
“The history lesson we need!”
— Jason Rogers | Writer, Olympic medalist, LA-based writer
