Young men are switching right. How will the Greens respond?

Dan Moskovitz (he/him)

“If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.” 

Who said the above quote is unclear. But if it’s true, then most young men (18-24) are heartless.

Trump won the group by 14 percentage points. Young men in the UK and Germany were twice as likely to vote for their far-right parties as they were for their Greens. South Korea has seen the difference in political preference between young men and women be as high as 30 points. 

It’s unclear if a similar pattern helped National gain power in 2023 - NZ’s ballots have more legal secrecy than our overseas counterparts. But if the current government is to only last one term, which seems possible under current polling, you can’t have half the left’s historic voter base voting against them.

It’s a problem Greens co-leader Marama Davidson is acutely aware of.

“We've had an economic system for generations now which has left people feeling like they don't have control over their lives,” she said.

“When you also have political leaders who exploit those frustrations and target minority communities, who pit people against each other, that gives people - including young men - a sense of power and control.” 

So, how are the Greens planning on responding? By doubling down on the politics of care. Davidson points to the examples of New Zealand leading the way in this, pointing to the Toitū te Tiriti Hikoi, and the recent rallying around trans and rainbow communities.

There’s some sensible reasoning here; it wasn’t long ago when Jacinda Ardern was elected twice on a platform of hope and kindness. 

But Davidson’s strategy is doubling down on how the Greens already message. There’s no mention of trying to establish a left-wing counter-voice in more male-dominated areas of the internet, like podcasts. When asked about the risk of not changing strategy, she admits it’s “a really good question.” 

“I think that it is the lack of the politics of care which has led to those frustrations and rise of far-right support.

“Successive governments have upheld the economic system which leaves people out. So that is what has caused and driven this frustration.”

In essence, Davidson wants to be the economic alternative which people go toward. The shifts rightward in the US, UK, and Germany in young men were all to parties not in power. Here, the right is. Meaning the left-wing is suddenly the economic alternative. 

How the Greens message is only one part of the equation, however. Labour faces the same problem. Salient requested an interview with them to discuss their messaging towards young men in 2026, but the request was denied until Labour had made policy decisions. 

This hints at a 2026 election where the two main left-leaning parties may be targeting young men in very different ways.