It's No Surprise Young Men Are Abandoning the Democratic Party

and some recent media hits, merch pics

As many of you know, I write a monthly column in my local paper that I often share here too since so many of you live far away and won’t be picking up our free weekly paper at the grocery store or coffee shop. This piece below ran here this past week in The Valley Breeze.

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You have probably heard that the Democratic party is falling out of favor with men. All the evidence shows this to be true, especially with young men in the 18-29 age group who have been migrating en masse to the Republican party in recent election cycles. From the 2016 Trump-Clinton race to now, the percentage of these voters that identify or lean Democrat has taken a nosedive from 51 percent to 39 percent. The reasons for this shift are many and I am positive that the experience boys are having in school is a contributing factor.

Schools of education that train teachers are steeped in the worldview that sees girls and women as victims and boys and men as their victimizers. They are told that to be born female in 2024 is to be “oppressed.” Aspiring teachers now spend their college years marinating in anti-male content and rhetoric where slogans like “Smash the patriarchy,” “toxic masculinity” and “the future is female” abound. In my many years working in schools and visiting schools as a parent and advocate, I have seen these exact slogans in lesson plans and on posters, t-shirts and coffee mugs inside classrooms. This same anti-male worldview has also long permeated the Democratic party and seems to be reaching a tipping point. If you listen to the rhetoric of candidates and their surrogates, it is almost immediately obvious why so many young men feel like the party has nothing to offer them. One democratic strategist recently referred to the Democratic party as “the women’s party.” The official party platform contains a list of the groups it is proud to serve—women are on the list. Men are not. 

Imagine that girls (and even some teachers!) wear t-shirts to school that say “the future is female” or “girls rule, boys drool.” On the one hand, this is hardly a big deal. On the other hand, boys would never be allowed to wear anything that claimed the opposite. The message of derision and contempt  is kind of baked in and that takes a toll after a while. 

Flyers and posters hang on school bulletin boards and classroom walls about special programs for girls like “Girls on the Run,” “Girls Who Code” and the “Girls in STEM Club” — there are no similar offerings for boys. 

Just as the school-aged boys begin to wonder, “is there anything on offer here for me?”, so do the young men in that 18-29 year old demographic when looking at the political left and the Democratic party. 

The boys sit in classes and listen to lectures about their “male privilege,” wondering how this can be the case when the girls do so much better in school. Of the top 10% of students, two-thirds are girls. On the flip side, boys comprise nearly two-thirds of the bottom 10% of students. Girls are over-represented in AP, honors classes and National Honor Society. 70% of high school valedictorians are girls. Boys are roughly 2.5 times more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than girls; of all expulsions from public school, 72% of all expulsions and 70% of suspensions were of boys. These disparate outcomes don’t only get ignored by the left; they are celebrated. 

The steady drumbeat of denigrating messages heard from the front of the classroom and from the stage of the Democratic convention has left young men feeling alienated and looking for something else.

They seem to be finding it in the GOP. 

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Media Hits

I’ve done quite a bit of media the past few months and figured I’d share a couple of the hits here.

1. Honestly with Bari Weiss

The link to the entire episode’s audio version is below.

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2. Just Asking Questions

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   Technically, LOVE my view is an LLC and I can call myself a business owner. My husband likes to jokingly call it my “expensive hobby” and a local reporter called it my “passion project.” All are true! I love having something positive, based in gratitude, to share with the world. As more people learn about it, I get requests for designs — music, kayaking, car racing, ballet, horseback riding…even the hammer throw! I don’t add all of them to the online store but I absolutely make them as custom orders because the whole point is for people to be able to wear their joy and appreciation, no matter what view they love. Here are some recent pics of our merch out in the wild—below you’ll see baseball, hockey, soccer, football, golf, lacrosse and the guitar design I made in honor of my husband’s band.

   

   Hint Hint—the holidays are coming and our products make great gifts for parents and grandparents who find joy in watching the kids play and perform.

   
   Happy weekend all! If you need me, I’ll be loving my view at the football field.

   
   Talk soon,

   
   Erika