Opinion | How Trump Upended the Gender Dynamics of American Politics
On the long road to Election Day, no group of voters was more loyal to Donald Trump than young white men.One early theory was that his success with this demographic was the result of male isolation and loneliness.
But that showed a fundamental misunderstanding of Mr.Trump’s appeal.
He did so well with male voters because he is a walking avatar of a kind of masculinity that Democrats could never embrace, and its appeal transcends this electoral cycle.Mr.Trump offered a regressive idea of masculinity in which power over women is a birthright.
That this appealed in particular to white men was not a coincidence — it intersects with other types of entitlement, including the idea that white people are superior to other races and more qualified to hold positions of power, and that any success that women and minorities have has been unfairly conferred to them by D.E.I.programs, affirmative action and government set-asides.
For men unhappy with their status, this view offers a group of people to blame, which feels more tangible than blaming systemic problems like rising economic inequality and the difficulty of adapting to technological and cultural changes.The Trump campaign was channeling what psychologists call “hegemonic masculinity,” the belief that “good” men are dominant in hierarchies of power and status, that they are mentally and physically tough, that they must embody the opposite of anything feminine — and that this dominance over not just women but all less powerful groups is the natural order and what’s best for everyone.A 2021 study by the psychologists Theresa Vescio and Nathaniel Schermerhorn found that hegemonic masculinity was a better predictor of whether people saw Mr.Trump as a good leader in 2016 and 2020 than sexism or racism alone.
It was a better predictor than trust in government or even party affiliation.Mr.Trump’s rally speeches were rambling, but they expressed this worldview consistently and constantly.
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