These concerns outweigh, for him, issues like abortion rights—even though Coby is pro-choice. But “because Trump got rid of Roe v. Wade,” he says, the issue was not a priority for him when casting his ballot in Michigan. “For the past four years the Biden administration couldn’t really do anything about it to federally protect abortion rights.” In his opinion, “That issue is kind of settled. It’s been given to the states.”
A lot of young men I spoke to, like Coby, did care about abortion but also felt it wasn’t their issue—even the ones, like 19-year-old Alex Georges, from Pennsylvania, who planned to vote for Harris. “With abortion, obviously men have their say about it. But women are the ones that…it’s their body.”
An issue that a lot of men did feel was important to them, though, was the ability to speak freely without being ostracized for viewpoints that don’t align with that of their peers. Coby says he feels this most on campus. Last week, Coby says, students and professors expressed their sadness with the election outcome. “I would not have the courage to raise my hand and then speak, ‘Hey, no, I’m happy with the election outcome,’” he says, adding, “It’s very hard for Republicans to speak up. I’m afraid of having a bad rep with a professor.”
For students like Coby, this can lead to resentment. “It’s very isolating. I feel like there’s a sense of moral superiority that occurs. When it comes to people who are within academia, they have this sense of superiority for who they vote for and what they value. And if you’re against that, then they kind of look down upon you.”
Provocative as this might be to many women, many of the young men I’ve met over the last year have told me that they are feeling marginalized, especially by the left. Joe Mitchell, 27, from Iowa, tells me, “I think young men have felt like they have been suppressed to a certain extent.”
Mitchell started an organization called Run GenZ, which recruits and trains young conservatives to run for public office across the country. He also, in line with so many of his peers, voted for Trump.
