I doubt you were, but just in case, please don’t hold your breath waiting for a young Gen Z male Trump voter to be named Dad of the Year. In an NBC Decision Desk Poll released Monday, men between the ages of 18-29 who voted for Trump ranked “having children” as the most important element in their definition of personal success. Comparatively, of the 13 options they were given (of which they ranked their top three), “having emotional stability” came in second to last. It might just be my Trump-loathing perspective, but the combination of wanting children but not prioritizing raising them in an emotionally stable home feels precarious.
Men are so cool lol “having children” number 1 and “emotional stability” dead last yeah sick combo haha awesome approach https://t.co/8cUl0hrxHZ
— lost everything betting on the sushi race (@unclehaver) September 9, 2025
Looking at the data, it seems that left-leaning Gen Z women prioritize financial, career, and emotional stability over the more traditional success markers like ‘being married” and “having children” than the Trump-voting men were in favor of. Their prioritization of having children is in alignment with the growing popularity of the pro-natalist movement—an obsession with boosting birth rates—on the right. Just look at Elon Musk, one of the more famous pro-natalists, who’s inarguably emotionally unstable and a father to 14 children. One has to laugh (or scream? or cry?) when the majority of young conservative men’s idea of “personal success” relies on another person carrying, laboring, birthing, and (probably) raising their offspring. Doesn’t feel that “personal” to me. Just saying!
It’s also impossible to comb through the poll results and not think about the oft-cited “male loneliness epidemic” ravaging the young, conservative, on-their-phone-too-much, male demographic. Gen Z Trump-voting men rated “Using your talents and resources to help others” at #10, while Harris-voting women had that at #4. (Though, when politics were taken out of the data, women and men rated that issue #5 and #4, respectively.) Between that and the respective rankings for emotional stability, the conservative men polled don’t seem particularly invested in interpersonal relationships, an inarguably key element of being not-lonely.
Interestingly enough, the same poll shows young women carry more anxiety than their male counterparts. Thirty-three percent of young women said they feel anxious “all of the time” compared to 19% of young men. It’s almost as if young women are burdened just as much, if not more, by existential feelings of fear, loneliness, and overwhelm. But we aren’t getting a think-piece-a-week on their mental well-being.
Regardless, maybe young Trump-voting men can focus a bit more on prioritizing emotional stability. It’ll certainly help with feeling less isolated from people, and while I’m loath to give them tips on how to have sex and have babies, it’ll probably help with that, too. You can’t say I’m not reaching across the aisle!
