Why Young Men Who Elected Trump Are Turning on Him

The New Abnormal

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.6 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Della Volpe joins Joanna Coles to unpack why young voters—especially anxious, economically insecure young men—helped put Trump in office. Drawing on Harvard polling and his SAM Project, Della Volpe explains how Trump’s internet swagger and outsider energy appealed to a generation feeling betrayed by institutions. But the mood is shifting. Young voters are turning on Trump, frustrated by chaos and instability. Della Volpe warns Democrats: stop lecturing, start listening. He points to Zohran Mamdani’s surprise win as proof that authenticity, optimism, and showing up matter more than ideology. To win Gen Z, Democrats need less tightly scripted cable TV appearances—and more courage.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, so they were attracted to his celebrity, his confidence, his promises.
0:04.5	So they've turned against Trump.
0:06.0	They are turning against him.
0:08.0	We are picking up the focus groups and the surveys the significant disapproval of the way that
0:14.2	ISIS currently, you know, doing their job in terms of ripping people out of cars and homes,
0:20.0	etc. providing additional
0:21.7	instability there.
0:23.6	And I think the same thing goes for the actions in the Middle East.
0:33.6	I'm Joanna Coles. I'm the chief content officer of The Daily Beast, and you are hopefully listening to the Daily Beast podcast in the bath, which is my favourite place to listen to podcasts.
0:44.6	But if you're not, I hope you're earning your clothes, cooking your supper, walking your dog, whatever.
0:50.1	I hope we're making your chores a little bit more interesting.
0:53.3	And today we have a guest who has talked to thousands of young men about why they've voted for Donald Trump,
0:59.3	but now appear to be falling out of love with him.
1:03.0	It is, of course, the pollster, the man based at the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics,
1:09.1	John Delovalpe, who literally scours the country for young people
1:13.5	to unburden themselves about their political anxieties.
1:20.0	All right. So, very excited to be joined by John Delavolpe. Thank you. This is your virgin
1:25.9	outing up for their Daily Beast podcast. I've been
1:29.0	waiting and waiting and here I am. So thanks so much for having me, Joanna. Okay. Well, we're
1:32.7	absolutely thrilled to have you. And what I want to kick off with, especially as you are, you know,
1:37.2	a world expert on young people and politics is what are they making of the Trump administration five months in?
1:47.9	Well, let's kind of set the stage and take one small step back if that's okay.
	...

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