Donald Trump is on course for victory in the US election after picking up the key swing states of North Carolina and Georgia.
Although details of the former president’s historic election win are still to be unpacked, both Kamala Harris’ and Trump’s advisers were expecting a historic youth gender gap between the two candidates, with women making up a clear majority of Harris’ supporters and men providing the clear majority of Trump’s total.
Among the men backing Trump, the 18-29 year-old cohort is particularly strong, which is significant for two reasons.
The first is that they are a group that previous presidential candidates may have overlooked. Now they have helped Trump over the line in an election characterised by razor-thin margins, that will no longer be the case.
It is also significant because younger Americans, like Brits, typically lean left, which looks set to change.
A poll published this month from the University of Chicago’s GenForward Survey found swathes of younger demographics have started coming out for Trump.
One-quarter of young Black men, for instance, now support Trump – a sea change from 2020, when Black men of all ages went for President Joe Biden by a nearly 9-to-1 margin.
Among young Latino men, 44 per cent said they were backing Trump, up from 38 per cent in 2020.
But was this enough to swing it for Trump, and what is behind the ‘Bro Vote’ phenomenon?
Trump snubs traditional media
Evidence that Trump was courting the young male vote was there for all to see when he rejected “60 Minutes” and hung out with the bros on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” and “Flagrant” instead.
On the “Flagrant” podcast, hosts asked questions about Trump’s children and how he felt during his assassination attempt. Host Akaash Singh interrupted Trump at one point to compliment him on how he raised his children.
“I think I like this interview,” Trump said.
His appearance on the podcast, one of several efforts he has made to reach young men, has been seen by nearly 5.5 million people on YouTube alone.
The ‘Andrew Tate phenomenon’
The shift is being dubbed the ‘Andrew Tate phenomenon’ by social media commentators and is seen to be rooted in social media influencers who project ultra-conservative values.
Elon Musk buying Twitter cannot be overstated either.
Since the Tesla man, a major Trump supporter acquired the social media network he has reinstated accounts such as Tate’s and others like Tommy Robinson’s in the UK and allowed them to flourish.
“I’m getting pushed information from the fringes of right-wing people who I don’t even follow,” one person told Al Jazeera in August.
“I go on every day and people I’ve blocked pop back up as people I’m following.”
Why more young men are increasingly supportive of Trump
Some say the ‘Bro Vote’ swing to Trump has been a reaction to the Democrats heavily targeting women voters in the 2024 election.
Here, The Maga Boyz, or ‘Maga Meme Pack’, blame it on how Roe v. Wade came to dominate the election campaign, with Trump being cast as the anti-abortion and anti-women’s rights candidate.
Was it enough?
It’s too early to tell whether the ‘Bro Vote’ was substantial enough to swing the election for Trump.
Early analysis of the youth gender gap suggests young men backed Trump by 11 points, up 13 points on 2020, suggesting it could be a significant factor but perhaps not the factor.
Either way, the trend should not be underestimated. This could well be the election when ‘Bros’ emerged as a tour de force in US and perhaps global politics.
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