Joe Biden has 99 problems this week—and men are a big one. Any Democrat who replaces him will almost surely face similar difficulties from a group of people who think of themselves as courageous tough guys, but are among the American electorate’s most fearful voters. If Democrats want to win in November, whether Biden is replaced or not, they need to figure out how to assuage men’s fears—without alienating the women who are key to delivering Democrats a victory.
According to recent polling, no demographic group has confidence that the president remains young enough to do the job, even among groups that largely still plan to support him. After his debate debacle, he hemorrhaged support, with a New York Times/Siena poll finding that Trump now leads Biden by 6 points, the widest margin those pollsters have seen since 2015.
Trump’s advantage among male voters, and especially among men without college degrees, is well-documented. But Biden overcame it in 2020, and this year, Democrats have a sharper edge with female voters, many of whom are incensed about Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices overturning Roe v. Wade and opening the door for Republican-led state legislatures to criminalize abortion, and potentially come for contraception and fertility treatments next.
