Donald Trump is adopting a “tough guy” image to attract young people to the polls

A young man with a beard is lying on the couch, a piece of pizza in one hand and a remote control in the other. “If you don’t vote in this election,” says a male voice in the ad that aired Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and x“Kamala and the fools will win.

A 15-second ad from a political action committee Elon Musk he keeps saying it Donald Trump is “America’s Badass”, accompanied by the iconic image of his bloodied face and raised fist after an assassination attempt on a rally in Pennsylvania.

The ad is part of an effort by the Trump campaign and its allies to convince young people to get off the couch and vote for the former president. Less than 40 days left Election daythe number of truly undecided voters in the electorate is small and falling. Victory depends on winning electoral support in seven swing states that will determine the path to 270 electoral votes.

Men are more likely to support Trump, but young people lean more toward Democratic candidate Kamala Harris: 49% of men have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to 45% of women, according to the most recent poll. Bloomberg News/Morning Consultation among voters in swing states. Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 46% have a favorable impression of Trump and 57% feel the same about Harris.

However, men also appear less often to vote.

According to census and federal data, women have registered to vote and have been shown to vote at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980. Center for American Women and Politics from Rutgers University. And the gender gap couldn’t be more stark this election cycle.

Harris is riding a wave of enthusiasm from black female voters who quickly mobilized their support on President’s Day Joe Biden withdrew from the race pending approval Taylor Swift after the debate. Proud “childless cat ladies” held dance parties and phone calls Oprah Winfrey captioned the event with Harris close by Detroit.

Trump tried to appeal to women. In the post in capital letters on Social truthhe wrote that it would “protect women on a level never seen before”, making their lives “great again”.

But the survey shows that women tend to have a very unfavorable impression of Trump. So his campaign focused its mobilization efforts on young people and the things they love: the former president promised at a bitcoin conference to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet.” He claimed it would “save vaping”.

He took part in the fighting UFC and he had Hulk Hogan speaking in Republican National Convention. Meanwhile, he is scheduled to attend a college football game Alabama and Georgia this weekend. And he regularly refers to Musk as “my friend” and “a great guy” during the campaigns. (Tony Fabrizio, a Trump pollster, declined to comment. X’s owner did not respond to a request for comment.)

Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, has much more appeal among young people: The poll shows that 49% of men in swing states have a favorable opinion of the billionaire, compared to just 32% of women.

He makes electric cars and rocket ships and, like Trump, presents himself as authentic and spontaneous. Musk has used Platform X, which he acquired for 41.7 billion euros ($44 billion), to promote Trump’s candidacy and criticize Harris.

“What will happen to Elon Musk “He’s basically a great teenager,” he said. Richard Reevespresident American Institute for Boys and Men. “He’s very public about the fact that the Biden administration hurt his feelings, and there’s the issue of an immature complaint. He basically spins 360 degrees with his middle finger raised and says “Fuck you!” “There’s something very attractive about that for young people,” he added.

Convincing these young men to vote, however, is another story. To help garner support, Musk started America PACpro-Trump super PAC, in May. To date, he has spent more than $67 million on pro-Trump advertising and campaigning and is backing several Republican campaigns in competitive House districts.

Several ads on Facebook America PAC are micro-targeted users who have shown interest in or interacted with topics that typically appeal to young people: boating, fishing, hunting, Chick-fil-Aformer NFL quarterback Tim Tebowpodcaster Joe RoganCEO of the company UFC Dana Bílá and personal finance personality Dave Ramseyby Meta Platforms Inc. Ad Library

The super PAC also runs some ads YouTube to men aged 18 to 34 in key states such as Arizona and North Carolinaaccording to Google Ads Transparency Center.

Like Musk himself, America PAC He also turned to memes to get his message across.

A senior Republican official said the Trump campaign is relying on outside groups such as US turning point from Charlie Kirkwhich advocates for conservative politics on college campuses, will help bolster support among young people.

But the official said it could be counterproductive to spend the money directly and target them as a voting block, as young people tend to vote at lower rates. Getting them to vote in large numbers is therefore labor intensive and costly for campaigns.

Spokesperson for A turning point, Andrew Kolvetdisputed it. The group’s 501(c)3 organization is registering young voters in large numbers on college campuses, she said in an interview, while its political arm, Turning point actionis campaigning and organizing in key states like Arizona and Michigan to convince Republican voters of all ages who did not vote in 2020.

“Our goal with young voters is to lose less,” he said. “If we move the needle incrementally with young voters, while on the other side we pull out those low-inclination voters who didn’t vote last time, we think that’s a winning combination.”

In general, young voters, black voters, and urban residents are more likely to support Democrats, while older, white, and rural voters are more likely to support Republicans. Pew Research. In this election, contentious issues like abortion are also motivating women to turn out in greater numbers, making the Trump campaign’s youth outreach efforts even more important.

“Young women are passionate about abortion and economic issues,” she said. David Merminpartner of the company Lake researcha prominent democratic voting society. “I’m pretty sure that when everything is sorted out, you’ll see more women than men in the electorate this fall.”

After High Court would reverse Roe v. Ford In 2022, there was an increase in the number of voters among women. Abortion access is also on the ballot in several states, including Arizona, Florida and Nevada, in November. own High Court mentioned the growing political power of women in overturning Roe.

“Women are not without voting or political power,” says the decision known as the Dobbs decision. “Notably, the percentage of women who register to vote and cast their vote is consistently higher than the percentage of men who do so.”

(c) 2024, Bloomberg