How Trump lost the bro vote

0:00Astead Herndon:There's simply no way around the numbers. Donald Trump's approval rating in his second term has completely collapsed. But some groups matter more than others, and one group matters a whole lot. That's young men. Take a look at this stat. In 2024, men under 30 prefer Donald Trump to Kamala Harris by about one percentage point. But in recent polling this year, men under 30 have widely disapproved of Donald Trump, and his approval rating is underwater by 55 points, a stunning decline. Now, I wanted to dig in further with these numbers at an event that was specifically geared to target this group.

0:40Astead Herndon:So I went to Washington, D.C. for Donald Trump's UFC event to talk to young men about the president. Do we think he's still cool? Have young men really turned on Donald Trump? Let's dig in.

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1:38Astead Herndon:Sign up and get 10 % off at BetterHelp.com slash America Actually. That's BetterHelp.com slash America Actually. When I got a new car, I thought my insurance premium would increase and empty my bank account. Like if Fetween won the lottery. I've invested most of my winnings in chicken tenders because they're bomb. But, bro, I bought a house, and it's sick, bro. I'm thinking the floor is going to be all trampoline, bro, with the helipad on the roof. The contractor said it's structurally unsound, but they're just being babies. But switching to Geico saved me hundreds, so my bank account is safe.

2:14It feels good to save some hard-earned cash. It feels good to Geico. Why did y 'all decide to come out today? Proud to be American. We got free tickets. This is going to be a great time. That's about it.

2:26Astead Herndon:One question we have is, would you say you're here for Trump or UFC? UFC. UFC all the way. UFC. UFC has a lot of culture, a lot of different people from a lot of different places, and that's what America is to me. You definitely see diversity. You definitely see a lot of different types of people. You see a different type of vibe. But one of the things that is really clear is, like, you know, Trump used UFC to kind of pitch himself to young men in the campaign trail and things like that. And there seems to be that, like, younger men really liked him in 2024-ish. Do y 'all think that's true? And then like, is that still true?

2:57I feel like he just knows how to advertise himself to the young and proud.

3:00Astead Herndon:Why do we think Trump and men seem to have a connection? I mean, I guess his views. What do you mean? Um... That's a good question. Just like... I'm like, why do we think this is true, right? Yeah, just the way he views everything, I guess, is similar with how younger people... It aligns with masculinity, I feel like, to a certain extent. Uh-huh. Like, is it how he talks? Is it the policy? Like, what would we say specifically? Well, at first, it was what he was promising to America. What do you mean? He was promising lower prices on everything. We didn't know wars were going to start with other countries.

3:33It's like the younger generation, they see this stuff. They see everything online, and it's like... He was promising change. Yeah, promising, yeah, big change. Exactly.

3:41Astead Herndon:The question I have is, has he lived up to that? No. No, I wouldn't say so. I wouldn't say so. I'm disappointed. We're disappointed. I guess what I was going to ask about. You mentioned no new wars. You mentioned kind of, I mean, gas price, whatever, whatever you want to make. I'm like, what do you think has been the disconnect in the second term? I'm middle class. I want things that affect my life. I want to see change in my regular day-to-day. It's like, and I don't see that. He mentioned disappointed. Why? Just because he's not living up to what he said he was going to do. You know, he said he was anti-war.

4:08You know, he said he was going to lower prices. And we're just not like, that result is just not happening. You know, we're not seeing it.

4:14Astead Herndon:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, do y 'all feel the same way? I'm saying, yeah. Prices are ridiculous. gas is, oof, don't even get me started on gas. I don't even want to fill my gas tank no more. Yeah. It's crazy, man. Trump definitely used to seem cool. Like, do we think he's still cool? Question mark? I feel like after, you know, the Epstein files and everything, should have just like ramped up with how he's been acting. I feel like it was a lot more, you know, chill before that. I feel like everything he's doing now is like negate that, like what happened with that. Like what we say that the Epstein files, you think was the break between like maybe when some of this, There was a lot up there.

4:50Astead Herndon:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the wars. I think that definitely separated a lot of people, especially young people, you know, because no one likes pedophiles, you know? No one likes to that. And the way that it's portrayed, at least it seems like there's trying to be some sort of cover-up. Yeah, yeah. Okay, last question would be, like, the ways that Trump was trying to appeal to young men and pitch himself, like, does that apply to people after him? Like, can J.D. Vance do the same thing? Do y 'all like these? Is there another politician? maybe even not Republican, that you like the way they're acting?

5:21Astead Herndon:Or is this like a specific Trump phenomenon? Thomas Massey. Thomas Massey. Interesting. Anyone else who you see across the landscape and you're like, I like that person. I mean, I don't really keep up with politics, to be honest. So I feel like even if someone does do this after Trump, it just won't be at the scale that Trump did it at. Because he feels unique in some way. Yeah, absolutely. In the celebrity or in all of that parts. Okay, cool. I will say I really like Mount Dominic though. You like Mayor of New York. Yes, sir. I have to disagree with you. I'm a respectful disagreement. I'm a respectful disagreement.

5:54Astead Herndon:You can't disagree. If there's one issue you would want Trump to focus on that he hasn't, what would it be? Foreign aid to Israel. You want to see, I imagine, less? A lot less. I feel like, you know, there's stuff going on over there. It's serious stuff. People are dying and it just shouldn't be happening. We're paying for that as taxpayers. Is there any other issue you would want him to focus on that he's not focusing on right now? Main thing, yeah, Israel. Just Israel, really. We don't want conflict. I feel like a lot of young people are on the same page with that. It's a big thing for the young voters.

6:27Astead Herndon:It does seem as if, like, you know, if Epstein was maybe break one, then Iran war and specific relationship to Israel has been a major break in terms of this year. Have you seen people talk about him differently or, like, feel differently about him since that stuff has popped up? Just keep America first, you know? Keep our priorities in America. That's all it is. I care about my family. I care about my country. I want people to be safe and happy where they live. I care about my wallet too, man. Country, family, wallet in some order. In some order.

7:05What's your name?

7:06Astead Herndon:You can call me Eddie. Eddie? Eddie. Jose. Jose. So would you say you came for Trump or you came for UFC? I came for the UFC. I know a lot of people are hating about how he's doing at the White House and stuff like that but i think it's just a one of a lifetime opportunity to happen so that's why you came here yeah what about you i feel like it's the environment i feel like this is like a once-in-a-one opportunity where you can come and you know come to a historic place and we get to see something that we really like like UFC do you like Trump to be honest not but i mean what about you i do not i do not agree with any any other things that he has you know done or said or what what he's going for, but I think it's pretty cool that he likes the fights, that he likes UFC and all that.

7:48You like that? Yeah, I think that's, you know, like, if anybody that likes UFC, I think, you know.

7:52Astead Herndon:The mayor of New York, he was at the Brazil game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Zoharman was at the World Cup event. You're saying it's kind of like the same, Trump coming to this versus him going to the World Cup? I'm assuming that there's people that also don't like the New York mayor, but you know, pretty cool that he likes the FIFA game. Yeah, because one thing is like, Democrats don't really do UFC. They don't do anything like that, you know? If Kamala Harris was president, I doubt that there would be a UFC event on the White House, right? I'm saying, do you think that's a missed opportunity for them to speak to people like y 'all?

8:22It might be, yeah. That's why I'm saying those people, if anything, let's say Kamala doesn't like that, but if she has people on her team that like that, they can always promote that and stuff.

8:32Astead Herndon:Okay, last question. If you have one issue you would want politicians to focus on, what would it be? Gas prices. Gas prices. Gas prices, it's bad. I would say... It was terrible. Yeah. I would say gas prices... Who do you blame for that? I mean, who's been president last year? I'm like, I'm like... You can't... It is the president, but it's also the things that he's doing with the war and stuff like that. I think we should focus more on the U.S. than the other countries.

9:06Astead Herndon:Would you say you're here for Trump or UFC? Oh, I'd say a little bit of both, you know. Does the political angle, did it make you more excited or less excited to come? It'd be even more exciting, you know. Many people don't like Trump. But it's his birthday, he's the president, it's the greatest country on earth. So we're here to celebrate that and watch a grand man fight. Did John vote for John? I'm 18, so I just turned 18, so I did not have the pleasure of being able to vote back in the last election. But would you have? I'd have to think about that. In my opinion, especially with people my age, I think we all think that the two sides were too extreme.

9:39And if someone was in the middle, I definitely would have voted for them. But honestly, I might not have voted. What do you think? Did you vote? I voted for Kanye. Why is that? Same reason. I think they're both extreme. They take it to the next level. Do we think Trump is—do you like him more or less than his first term? I mean, obviously, I like the UFC. So I like that a lot. But he's doing that vocal-wise. I mean, I'd say less. I'd say a little less, but I do like things he's doing, like this, obviously. That does change my opinion. It does work to change people's opinion.

10:11Astead Herndon:You're saying this reached you, but you like him a little less this time than last time? I'd say a little bit, yeah. One thing that really came up in the last election was about young men and Trump. Like, there was a whole thing about, like, folks like y 'all, y 'all's age, like, being really interested in Trump. And in some ways, it feels as if young men and Trump was a specific relationship in the last time. I agree that more men think, like, I think it's more masculine, they think, to vote Republican than Democrat. Why do we think that is? I feel like more Democrat they view towards the LGBTQ community, and mostly masculine men don't want to be a part of that, so they go to the other side.

10:47Even, like, they don't look at the politics. Like, politics aside, they don't want to, like, be associated with gay people. So I feel that could be a reason. Yeah, a small reason.

10:56Astead Herndon:So three big takeaways after talking to young men outside of Donald Trump's UFC event. The first is that a lot of these boys are here for the sport, not necessarily the president. They recognize the political aspect, but they're largely here because they're fans of fighting. The second thing, though, is that those things are kind of related things. As Donald Trump has gone from the fringe to the mainstream, so has UFC itself. And a lot of the fans of the sport really appreciate him backing them over a long period of time. But the third thing is the most important, particularly about politics. because I keep hearing from boys that they feel a little differently about Donald Trump in his second term than the first term.

11:35Astead Herndon:They feel like he hasn't necessarily focused on the right priorities, and even the things that made him a model man or semi-cool have fallen off the second time he's been in office. So I'm going to dig further into that by someone who lives in the alt-right manosphere. I'm going to talk to Jack Posobiec, the far-right activist and podcaster who will be at this event and who I talked to a couple years ago. I remember at that time he told me that the best way to understand Donald Trump is to think about a fighter. And so what better place to follow up on that conversation? Let's talk to him.

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15:49I've always thought that the way she looks at these things are, you know, he's got a challenge directly in front of him. And he's thinking, how do I take that down? And you look at his background with WWF. There's a lot of that DNA that went into the campaign, that went into the admin. And I just I've always thought that that's what President Trump's mentality, Donald Trump demands mentality was.

16:12Astead Herndon:It also seems like an element of showmanship that's built into that WWE that Donald Trump understands. Like, look at this. It goes without saying, it goes without saying the showmanship, the walkout themes, which obviously he uses at his rallies. Yeah, he won't realize behind stage at those rallies. He's directing all that. The other thing I think about is kind of the like the the masculinity projection. like people we're talking to here say that like, you know, there's a special relationship between men and Trump, that he understands them. Like, what do you think that means? What is that? He did stop the only two women who ran for president, you know.

16:47Hey, I mean, I understand.

16:48Astead Herndon:So I'm saying that seems built in the cost, too. I'm saying like, what is it about Donald Trump as a guy that guy's like? Look at his background, right? He's always been around with boxing, Don King, Iron Mike Tyson back in the day, Vanderhoele. Even his hip hop stuff. Even the hip-hop stuff, he's always been sort of attracted to that masculine figure, physicality, always been around with sports. So, like, sports are just back in such a big way right now, and Trump was always a big part of that, including, by the way, getting UFC off the ground. And Dana White tells the story all the time that nobody would give them insurance until Trump came along and said, you know what, let's give it a shot, right?

17:25They started as non-mainstream, non-establishment, you know, outside of the Overton window of discussion. But they connected with the people in a way that WWF connects with the people. You go and look at the places that pro wrestling goes and holds their events. Not just their Raws and their WrestleManias, but the house shows. The shows that don't even make it on TV. And then you go and cross-section that, cross-reference that with MAGA rallies. It's one-to-one. The same group of people, the same sort of culture that speaks to each other. You may not, you know, you may not have a pro sports team in your town, but you know what?

18:02When WWF comes to town, you can see Hulk Hogan body slam with Giants. You might be able to go see Donald Trump come in and he's going to come as the New York City Fifth Avenue billionaire. He's going to come and see you and show that you matter.