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One of Donald Trump’s most loyal demographic groups, men are an essential component of the president’s base. Regressive, punitive gender politics are the glue that holds the MAGA coalition together across lines of ideology and disposition. When the president won reelection in 2024, his win was credited in part to the men he reached through the manosphere, a collection of influencers and media productions that preach a vicious gospel of masculinism. Trump has betrayed countless allies and reneged on all sorts of campaign promises, but his commitment to preferencing men over women has never seemed to falter. In return, men—especially young ones—have given him their support.

But an Economist/YouGov poll conducted in recent days found that support diminishing. Trump’s net approval rating among men in the poll was −22, the lowest ever recorded during either of his presidential terms.

Men aren’t the only ones disappointed in the president’s performance. Women’s support for Trump has cratered over the course of his second administration, too. But the decline in men’s Trump approval has been much more dramatic. At the time of the 2025 inauguration, Trump was already underwater among women, who gave him a net approval rating of −5. In the year and a half since, women’s approval fell 29 points to its nadir at the beginning of July.

By contrast, men began Trump’s second........

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