Young Men’s 40-Point Shift Puts Care on America’s 2028 Agenda

Men ages 18 to 29 swung nearly 40 points toward Democrats on 3 November, helping the party capture both Houses of Congress, flip seats in state legislatures and win some unexpected governorships, according to Brigid Schulte and Haley Swenson.

Schulte and Swenson said young men helped propel Donald Trump into the White House in 2024. His administration then doubled down on the toxic masculinity popular in the so-called manosphere, promoting high testosterone, male supremacy and a “biblically-based family” in which men work and provide while women stay home to bear children and care for others.

What do young men want from work and public policy?

Schulte and Swenson produced the research with NORC at the University of Chicago. Their nationally representative survey covered more than 3,000 Americans and oversampled men ages 18 to 29.

The authors said the election results showed that young men want financial stability as the cost of living soars and jobs become precarious, disposable and threatened by AI. They also want time to give care.

More than six in 10 young men value caregiving as much as paid work, even though many have no child or loved one in their care.

Thirty percent identify as caregivers. The share reaches 44% among young Hispanic men, a group that swung 47 points toward Democrats from 2024.

Nearly six in 10 young men who have combined work and care have reduced their work hours. Providing care while still earning enough to live remains a major concern.

“Everything is so expensive these days that a young person can’t even consider taking care of someone, as they can barely take care of themselves,” a 23-year-old male caregiver from Ohio said in the survey.

Eight in 10 say an involved father is an important part of being a man. Seven in 10 say they would be at least somewhat interested in being a stay-at-home parent if they had the choice.

Six in 10 young men, compared with about four in 10 young women, said they would be at least somewhat interested in being a full-time caregiver.

Abdul began caring for his chronically ill father at 19 because no other family member was available and they could not afford paid care. He missed classes, quit his job and moved in with his extended family until his father died.

“It was always nice for me to be there for my father, because he was there for me when I was young,” Abdul, now 26, told the researchers. “I have no regrets. I would do it again.”

The common thread is economic security without giving up the capacity to care.

Where do traditional views still hold?

Schulte and Swenson found that men ages 18 to 29 were nearly three times as likely as women of the same age to endorse the view that men can do some care work but women are better suited to do most of it. The split was 32% among young men and 12% among young women.

Young men were also more likely than young women to say a man’s family role is financial support while women run the household, 32% compared with 14%.

Those views remain minority positions. More than 70% of young men say men and women should divide care equally, and 60% say mothers and fathers care for newborns equally well.

Among men over 30, 52% said mothers and fathers do an equally good job caring for a newborn. Young men were also more likely than young women to say gender does not determine who is best suited to care for an adult.

Even where traditional attitudes persist, most young men favor equal caregiving.

What would make caregiving possible?

Half of young men said they were somewhat or very likely to need paid leave from work to care for a child in the future, roughly the same share as young women. Another 44% anticipated leave to care for an adult family member.

Among young fathers who took paid leave for a child, 70% said access through their employer or the state was a major reason they took it.

Among men who wanted caregiving leave but did not take it, the most common reasons were inability to afford it, concern about career damage and unsupportive workplaces. Just 5% said taking leave was not “manly.”

Nearly one-third say they have no control over their work schedules. While 33% work from home at least some of the time, 68% would prefer to, leaving a 35-percentage-point gap between what young men have and what they want.

Paid leave and flexible schedules turn stated preferences into workable choices.

What must policymakers deliver before 2028?

Schulte and Swenson said young men want good work with living wages that lets them form and care for a family. They urged lawmakers to raise the minimum wage, help families cover the high cost of care and pass federal paid family and medical leave.

They also called for measures that give workers more flexibility and control over their schedules, rather than treating the voters as disgruntled Republicans intent on thwarting Democrats in the next Congress.

Schulte and Swenson cited evidence that young men are moving beyond toxic masculinity and the politics of division. Their test for 2028 is whether lawmakers deliver policies that restore hope for the future, an agenda newly elected Texas senator James Talarico calls the politics of love.

For the 2028 coalition to hold, Schulte and Swenson say, policymakers must deliver on wages, care and control over working time.