Did The US Election Become a Gender War?

In the aftermath of the 2024 US election, many people have been left wondering how, with all the ethical and logical opposition, Donald Trump has been able to retake his mantle as President. It has come as a real shock to many democrat supporters and other left wing groups around the world, but it’s happened, and it’s important to try and digest how and why.

When looking at the election’s voting demographics, one of the hugely important areas that sticks out is the increase in the Republican votes by men and young people in particular. While it was always to be expected that Donald Trump would be more popular among men than women, his 6% growth within young people is less explicable. 

Obviously there are reasons, and one of the most important and clear to see is American men’s reluctance to elect a woman as President. This was a prevalent issue in 2016 when Trump went head to head with Hilary Clinton. However, since then, the proportion of men voting to the right has increased exponentially, with the so-called “red pilling” of young men to blame in no small part.

Since his meteoric rise in 2022, prominent figures have been repeatedly warning of the inherent danger of voices like Andrew Tate. His grasp on young men has not gone unnoticed as he grew into a large part of popular culture over the last few years. Much like Donald Trump, his popularity has withstood throughout a number of high profile controversies and legal issues that would, in any normal circumstances, have been career ending.

If you’ve managed to avoid Tate’s strangle hold on social media, you may be unaware of what his content and presence seeks to do. Tate and his affiliates thrive on making vulnerable young men believe they are marginalised, so that they feel as though they must “rise up” and rebel against what they see as suppressive social norms. Part of this is them fighting to reclaim the role that men held in society in the past, and trying to return to a world where they feel men reigned supreme. 

The biggest problem with this way of thinking is that, while equality between genders is still not as it should be, women have come a long way in breaking through glass ceilings in recent years, and any attempt for these men to “regain their status” really just means cutting down women and reversing all the progress they’ve worked so hard to make. This means that when an incredibly competent and qualified presidential candidate like Kamala Harris entered the race, the fact that she was a woman, let alone a woman of colour, was already enough to make up the minds of thousands of potential voters.

Trump himself and his incessant PR machine haven’t done much to defuse this blatant hatred either, with much of his campaign relying on the hot topic of abortion rights. As such he has portrayed himself as an enemy to women and their reproductive rights, and these men who have been entrapped by Tate’s rhetoric are all too happy to vote for him, if only to exert a small bit of power over women as a whole.

Obviously, openly aligning himself with an alleged sexual predator would not be a great look for a Donald Trump with his own spotted history of legal disputes, but a key part of the now-President’s campaign strategy was his relationship with Tesla owner and all-round divorced dad, Elon Musk. Much like Andrew Tate, Musk also uses much of his social media presence to spread hate speech and misinformation, with a large focus on satisfying his own ego by sharing memes and leaning into popular culture. 

This newfound partnership has helped Trump to establish a whole new voter-base, consisting of edgy teens and crypto bros alike, and as such, he himself has been leaning into meme culture in his efforts to overcome Kamala Harris. 

Following a dig from President Joe Biden within the last weeks, where he referred to republican supporters as “garbage”, Donald Trump Jr seized the opportunity to dress up as literal garbage for Halloween. Tactics such as this, it would seem, managed to tickle the younger voters and, according to an interview from our sister news company ParkLife with political communications researcher, Haleigh Eubank, these sorts of antics had a large role in drawing in people that may not have otherwise voted at all.

Speaking about the affects of such publicity stunts and adverts she said “there are so many long lasting ads, that have been so appealing to voters. They get people out to vote even more than the ground effort. People identify with it. Especially people who may not be too in tune otherwise with politics. It gives them an opportunity to understand who’s even running and the platforms they will adopt if they get into office.”

Tate and his messaging have made young men susceptible to these tactics, while the Trump campaign is implementing them to the fullest to entice people that would not have voted without their use.

The Republicans and the right wing media managed to turn what should have been an incredibly important election, focused on worldwide conflicts and the cost of living in America, into a culture war centred around striking down and diminishing the voices of women, so that they can make themselves feel powerful for a fleeting five minutes.