Men Against Boys: The Transatlantic Far-Right and the Young Male Vote

As the dust settles from the fallout of a second Trump presidential victory the process of finger pointing has begun amongst Democrats and armchair political strategists around the globe. One reason borne out of the initial breakdown of voter statistics is the gravitation of young white men towards the Republicans, attracted by the unapologetically chauvinistic-MAGA image. A noticeable aspect of discussions amongst British audiences, however, is a sense of exceptionalism that no matter how bad our politicians are, at least they’re not that bad and would be hounded out of public life here. 

Nowhere is this exceptionalism more apparent than in the assumption that the US phenomenon of increasingly far-right young white men voting for Trump would not be replicated in the UK. This is not in fact some distant possibility – it is something happening now.  

In the UK election 12% of men aged 18-24 voted for Reform Ltd, a number which increases when focusing on young white men from C2 and DE backgrounds. Whilst this is nowhere near the level of support that Trump received, these trends are more pronounced amongst 18-24 year olds than the next cohort of 25-29 year olds. Labour must prepare for this trend to continue in 2029 with the next cohort of voters aged 18-24. This is a very real possibility given my own empirical research into this topic. Interview evidence with secondary school teachers provided clear signs that UK teenage boys’ reality is shaped by an information space (both online and offline) where extreme-right MAGA-adjacent frames are both increasingly mainstreamed and normalised.  

Once you know what you are looking for, these frames are impossible to miss.  Often presented as humorous and devoid of ideology, there is a barrage of right-wing content aimed at this cohort from a confluence of those taking the grift of least resistance and genuine believers seeking to influence teenagers.  

This is exacerbated by this age group’s lack of necessary epistemic defence mechanisms to appreciate what is behind the content in front of them. This is not to infantilise teens – just consider how many adults participated in far-right riots off the back of racist disinformation in late July and August – but they are inevitably the most susceptible. 

Whilst there is a notable cultural difference between the frames and narratives in the US and UK context, the formats run parallel. For example, on the fringes of this ecosystem (which I understand to mean content which is not inherently far-right but is easily co-opted by actors) in the US you have accounts such as Barstool Sports whereas in the UK the sporting dimension is more focused around the milieu of “football Twitter”. 

There is, therefore, a real risk that Labour takes for granted the conventional wisdom that young people lean left and is blindsided in 2029, especially when Reform Ltd were runners-up to Labour in 89 seats in 2024. The question therefore is what can be done now to prevent this slide amongst young voters? 

To tackle far-right misogynistic sentiments in schools, policies put forward by the Department of Education must avoid talking down to young men and leaving the impression, rightly or wrongly, that their masculinity is inherently toxic. Progressives talk about the importance of lived experiences, and this is no exception. You do not generate sustainable change by talking down but rather by offering a modern vision of masculinity that is meaningful as opposed to contrived. Whilst the best cure is prevention this is too late for too many.  

However, there is only so much a Labour government can achieve here. Because of the conspiratorial nature of the modern far-right which drip feeds through on social media (for example Andrew Tate and Elon Musk regularly allude to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory) the natural knee-jerk response to any government attempt to alleviate the fears of this cohort is suspicion. This is due to what Sunstein and Vermeule call a self-sealing quality – that any attempt to undermine or disprove the conspiracy is itself a part of the conspiracy, especially when it involves government because “that’s what they would want you to believe”.   

Rather it is incumbent on civil society to facilitate a cultural shift delimiting the boundaries of what is socially acceptable and more importantly conceivable. If the boundaries of young white men’s reality are not defined by extremes, momentum towards them will be curbed.  

Recent ‘hot takes’ have proposed that what is needed is a liberal Joe Rogan. This is the right sentiment but the wrong way of going about it. Yet another all-star podcast with centrist dad’s bro-ing out will be ineffective as it would be a crude imitation that fails to out-bro the bros. Ironically you don’t fight fire with wets. Rather you must meet people where they are by communicating in a language they understand to influence from there. 

This is even more challenging considering the spaces occupied are geared towards the extremes, be it unintentionally through algorithms or by design – including both complementing each other as in the case of Twitter. Twitter is a good test case for progressives. Competitors such as Bluesky should be supported though I would urge against joining the exodus and abandoning what once was a mainstream platform yet still with a far-reaching userbase to the far-right, especially when susceptible young people remain. We cannot allow the bullies to take over the playground.  

Whilst the prospects for social democrats may seem bleak at this moment in time, we must remember that Labour have just won a historic majority with a clear mandate for change. As with all voters, change being felt in people’s pockets and self-confidence in society is the surest way to win over disaffected communities. However, this is redundant if the perceived reality of young white men sucked in by the far-right pipeline is at odds with this and influencing this is the task for progressives.   

If you enjoyed this, follow the link here to read another piece on the affects of the US election on Starmer’s Labour government and the UK. 

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