Attendees pray during AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the death of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. December 20, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr
Much was made in 2024 about Donald Trump's electoral success with young men, but according to new findings reported on by Puck, this bloc of voters, dubbed one of the "most important," is drifting away from its past support over Trump's many broken promises, and they "simply don’t trust the president anymore."
On Wednesday, Puck reported on the findings of the Speaking With American Men (SAM) project, "a fresh, large-scale report" on the voting habits and motivations of young men, "created by Democrats in the aftermath of 2024." While in 2024 "young men were typecast as a bunch of reactionary white 'bros' who voted for Trump because of podcasts, Zyn, misogyny, or whatever," all of those legitimate angles "also conveniently whitewashed the whole story" about their shift towards Trump, which was largely motivated by concerns about rising prices and economic stability.
"Young men of all races and classes shifted to Trump, hoping that would bring down costs and help them access an economy that felt out of reach," SAM researcher John Della Volpe explained to Puck, with the outlet adding, "But prices haven’t gone down, and the president seems more focused on foreign policy than domestic affordability."
In the spring, SAM found that young men's support for Trump was around 56 percent. In the most recent survey findings, shared with Puck on Wednesday, this had dipped considerably to 46 percent. Among all of the young demographics surveyed, the picture was even worse for the president, with overall support at only 36 percent.
As Trump wades into a highly contentious and expensive conflict in Venezuela, a break with his campaign promise to end costly foreign wars, 78 percent of young men told SAM that "avoiding unnecessary wars and conflicts" was important to them, with 68 percent saying that they were likely to support a candidate who avoids them. They also favored Democratic candidates as more likely to avoid such conflicts than Republicans, by around 5 percent.
“The big picture is that Trump was getting the benefit of the doubt in the first 100 days of his term,” Della Volpe explained. “Now, they are reflecting on those policies several months later and seeing no significant improvement. And they’re saying that their situation is no better. In many cases, it’s worse.”
Across the board, young men surveyed by SAM rejected the notion that Trump has been pushing for policies that would benefit them. Only 27 percent agreed with the statement that Trump is "delivering for people like you," with 40 percent agreeing that "He talked big, but let people like me down," and 26 percent agreeing that "He’s made an effort but didn’t deliver." Around 47 percent also agreed that Trump, "creates chaos and makes things worse," with Puck concluding that while "young men saw Trump as a change agent last November, it seems they no longer do."
