June 23, 2020--Men

The latest Quinnipiac poll has Biden widening his lead over Trump by an additional 3 or 4 points. The trends are not looking promising for the embattled president.

More interesting and important than the national numbers are how the candidates are faring in swing states that will ultimately supply the Electoral College votes needed to win and the demographics of each candidate's voter base. 

For example, breakouts from the Q and other polls show how many18 to 29 year-olds say they favor Biden or Trump (60% for Biden and 31% for Tump).

Also revealing is the distribution of voters 65 and older who favor Biden, 52%, to Trump's 40%. And the 80 percent of black voters who say they are for Biden in contrast to the 10 percent who say they are intending to vote for Trump.

In just one demographic does Biden lose to Trump--among men. Not just men who did not attend college, but all men.

While women by 59 percentage points favor Biden just 33 percent plan to vote for Trump. Trump, though, leads Biden among men by 51 to 38 percentage points.

This leads to my question, a very different one than Quinnipiac poses--what is wrong with men?  

51 percent say they're for Trump.

Are we so fragile that our masculinity is threatened by accomplished and assertive women that a majority of us plan to vote for that autocratic bag of fear and wind? That after almost four years of Trump in action it is inexplicable to me that more than 10 percent of men would vote for him.

What do men see happening if Tump manages to get reelected? Restore our wounded egos? So much so that we are OK that his coronavirus policy is leading to the unnecessary death of well over 100,000 Americans? And day by day he is leading us to a nuclear war with North Korea and God knows what with Iran. That makes him OK to vote for?

My friend Al has an explanation as good as any I've heard--He says it's because men are stupid. Simple as that.

January 22, 2018--The March

Saturday's Women's March was again extraordinary. Hundreds of thousands of largely young people, mainly women, turned out in the United States and around the world in all kinds of weather.

Not intentionally, Rona and I got swept into the periphery of it in New York City. We were in the vicinity of Times Square for another purpose and found ourselves . . . marching.

It was a powerful, emotional experience. I know that there has been some backbiting among the organizers who planned and carried out last year's version, held the day after Donald Trump's inauguration-- the size of that march eclipsing the much smaller crowd that showed up for his swearing in, nasty speech, and his still ongoing smarting that his inaugural turnout was by far the largest in history--but no matter. 

It was remarkable, amazing. So much energy, a palpable feeling of empowerment, which of course is the real goal of these marches--women taking more control of their political lives and destiny. 

Speaker after speaker took note of the fact that thousands of women nationwide, at all levels, are signing up to run for office. This suggests that November may be shaping up to be an historical comeuppance for Trump and his cult of followers. 

Say goodbye, Republicans, to your current majority in the House and I suspect the Senate. That would bring about a new day. That would truly be what is most historic about the current situation--new voters and newly activated citizens taking back their country. In perfect irony, they, we will make America great again. 

But besid the possibility that we will be engaged in a major war in Korea come November which will cause many Americans to rally to a president that they otherwise despise, there is another danger--

With the march itself. 

Rather an unanticipated consequence from its very nature--that it is a women's march. 

Though men are welcome to participate, the vast majority of those who marched were women.

If this becomes the electoral face of those who oppose Trump, with Hollywood stars pushing their way into the spotlight, there is the danger of a backlash among moderate, politically independent men who may come to feel excluded by the movement that the march represents. 

These men are needed as part of the coalition that has the potential in November, for all intents and purposes, to end the Trump presidency. To turn him into an instant lame duck. Domestically at least--powerless. 

These are some of the same men, not Trump acolytes, who could not bring themselves to pull the lever and vote for Hillary Clinton. Next time around, we cannot let this happen. They have to feel welcomed, comfortable being lead by women and willing to vote for women for Congress as well as at the state and municipal levels.

We have to write off Trump's 35-40 percent. They are the ones who would support him even if he murdered someone on Fifth Avenue, as he said with insight during the campaign. But to win and thereby rescue ourselves we need the active support of the persuadables. Some of them the old Reagan Democrats. Or their descendants. There are still plenty of them who are swing voters who live in swing states.

So what to do?

For the next march attention should be paid to the sensitivities and vulnerabilities of these men who must become political allies. In the next march they should have some public role to play. The themes to emphasize need to include a portion that are gender neutral--like inequality and our plummeting position in the world. These themes should not be so much about so-called "women's issues." It would be wise to include more that cross genders and are universal.

I understand that these suggestions will not go down well among some or even many, especially coming from a not-quite-dead-yet white male. But if we want to win--and we desperately should--I put these thoughts forward in the spirit of wanting to help.