John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, joined “Morning Joe” to discuss the “whiplash” young men delivered Republicans on Election Day by shifting their support to Democrats — and what he believes the party must do to hold on to the key demographic in 2028.

According to preliminary voter data, 62% of men under 30 voted for Democrats in the midterms, compared with 36% who backed Republicans. That marks a sharp shift from 2024, when young men supported Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, 55% to 41%.

“No group switched more than young men in the entire electorate,” Della Volpe said Monday morning. And, as he explained, that shift crossed educational lines. “Younger men without a college degree are about as likely to support Democrats as young men with a college degree,” he said.

Despite young men helping to return Trump to the White House in 2024, their optimism about his presidency began to fade, he said, when Trump started talking about tariffs and taxes.

Della Volpe said young men’s support comes down to “which party understands me, and which party delivers for me.” That, he said, was “the message and the rebuke” that many Americans, particularly younger men, sent to the Republican Party last week.

Still, he cautioned Democrats against taking young men’s support for granted. Their allegiance, he said, may be more fluid than either party once assumed. “We thought Democrats would have younger people for a generation, Republicans for a generation. Of course, that’s not true,” he explained.

Della Volpe outlined four “keys” he believes will determine which party can win young men in the next election: listening to them and understanding their aspirations; making the economic case in concrete terms, including the costs of raising a family, buying a home and saving for education; addressing corruption, including calls to ban congressional stock trading; and speaking to the broader “aspirations of their generation.”

Ultimately, he said, the message comes down to two issues that are two sides of the same coin: “cost of living and corruption.”

“Deliver on it,” he advised Democrats.

You can watch Della Volpe’s full analysis in the clip at the top of the page.

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