But John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics and a one-time Biden adviser, says the party may have a lot to learn from Mamdani.
The specificity of the Mamdani campaign’s promises, in addition to his focus on “listening, not lecturing,” allowed the democratic socialist to capitalize on the lack of trust young men have in the political establishments of both parties, he said.
“That can come from the right in Charlie Kirk, it can come from the left in Mamdani, but it’s about understanding that psychology and those motivations to create some level of trust so you can then engage in a more political conversation about why this policy and this candidate is better than that candidate and that policy,” he said.
In the run-up to this year’s elections, voters consistently ranked the economy as their top priority — and young voters in particular tend to express more pessimism than their older peers about the nation’s fiscal outlook.
In addition to offering a positive vision for affordability, Democrats’ effectiveness at tying economic frustrations to the Trump administration in the off-year elections provides a helpful model for the 2026 midterms, Della Volpe said.
Jane Rayburn, a Democratic pollster who worked on the Mamdani campaign, said Democrats succeeded in making an affirmative case for their party rather than simply offering a negative attack on Republicans, an approach that she sees as key to winning young male voters.
“I do think that all of these campaigns — but particularly Mamdani’s — one, really tried to not treat these voters like a monolith, and two, actually had, candidly, non-condescending and inclusive conversations with these voters to bring them into the dialogue,” Rayburn said.
To keep making inroads with young male voters next year, Democrats will have to focus on “candidate authenticity, giving voters something to vote for, and bringing back some hope and joy into campaigns,” she said.
Still, Republicans argue that Democrats’ gains this year were an aberration and not a reversal of a trend of young men racing toward the GOP. Republican strategist Matt Gorman said young men tend to tack closer to the median voter and are more prone to electoral swings than female voters — which he says presents an opening for Republicans to win them back in the midterms, particularly as President Donald Trump and other Republicans pivot toward an affordability message.
“Young women lean very far left on the average, so they’re likely to stick with Democrats, as expected — before this, after this. But winning back independents, including young men, with a message of affordability is where there is a road map towards next year,” he said.
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