Joe Tintori voted for Donald Trump in 2024. On Tuesday, the 22-year-old registered Republican plans to vote for a Democrat for governor of Florida.

“I feel betrayed,” Tintori said. “Everything that he said has been an empty promise, and everything has just gotten more expensive.”

Two years ago, young men like Tintori helped return Trump to the White House. Now, across the country, many of them have grown disillusioned with the Republican Party.

Everything that he said has been an empty promise, and everything has just gotten more expensive.”

—Joe Tintori

Democrats hold a narrow 1-point lead among men age 18 to 29, according to a New York Times/Siena University poll. In 2024, 55% of them backed Trump.

Only 16% of young men approve of the job Trump is doing, according to the Times poll. The war with Iran is even less popular: 87% of young voters disapprove of the administration’s military action there, more than any other age group.

In interviews across five battleground states, young men who backed Trump in 2024 said they were fed up. They pointed to the cost of living, the war with Iran and the spike in gas prices that followed, the administration’s push to expand infrastructure for artificial intelligence and a president whom they see as enriching himself in office.

“It was a lot of promises, a lot of build-up, and then they just fell flat,” Luke Coltson, a 22-year-old physical therapist from Michigan, told MS NOW. “You can say that like: ‘Give it time, they’re still working on it.’ But that’s not what it seems like to me.”

I just can’t imagine even the thought of wanting to get a house anytime soon.”

—Luke Coltson

In conversations with MS NOW, many young men cited the war, the resultant jump in gas prices and the Trump administration’s support for expanded AI infrastructure as the reasons for their discontent.

Kameron Zeka, a 22-year-old from Iowa, said that when he voted for Trump two years ago, he didn’t expect his ballot to lead to a new foreign war. He wants the war with Iran to end, he said, because it doesn’t seem to be benefiting Americans.

Tintori put it more bluntly. The United States, he said, needs to “get the hell out of Iran.”

“I think we shouldn’t be involved in it at all. It’s driving up the cost of everything,” Tintori said. “Stop giving all this money to Israel. The American people need that money.”

Tintori, a registered Republican, said he planned to vote for Democrat David Jolly in Florida’s gubernatorial election, though his first choice was James Fishback, who finished third in the GOP primary after drawing scrutiny for racist and antisemitic remarks on the campaign trail. Tintori said he would not back Rep. Byron Donalds, Jolly’s Republican challenger, because of his pro-AI views.

Zeka told MS NOW that he would be supporting Democrats in both of Iowa’s major statewide races next week — support that gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand and Senate candidate Josh Turek will be relying on to propel them to office in a state Trump won by about 13 points in 2024.

For many of these young men, frustration over the war is bound up with a broader anxiety about the economy.

In Rittman, Ohio, Adam Adkins, 24, is struggling to pay child support in an economy he said is failing him. Adkins, who voted for Trump in 2024, called grocery and gas prices “outrageous” and said he feels the pressure every day.

“He’s got money, so he thinks he’s got all the power,” Adkins said of Trump. “He thinks he can make the decisions of going to war, and he doesn’t feel the repercussions because of it. We do.”

The strain has him questioning himself as a parent. “As a father, because you ain’t got that extra cash to go and spoil your kids, so it’s pretty difficult,” he said.

Regular unleaded gas costs 40% more than it did a year ago, according to AAA. Diesel is up about 73%. The proliferation of AI has made entry-level workers struggle to find jobs in a shrinking employment field. And the national debt topped $40 trillion in August amid a shaky bond market, raising questions about the country’s long-term economic health.

“I just can’t imagine even the thought of wanting to get a house anytime soon,” Coltson told MS NOW.

In Anchorage, Alaska, Ryan Boyer, 22, has been picking up extra shifts as a safety patrol officer to make ends meet. Boyer voted for Trump in 2024, and given the chance, he said, he would take that vote back.

I definitely would have told myself to be more informed.”

—Ryan Boyer

“I definitely would have told myself to be more informed,” he said.

Coltson went further. If he could do it over again, he said, he wouldn’t have voted for a presidential candidate at all.

He’s not alone. Just 31% of young men reported that they would definitely vote in this year’s midterms, compared with 42% in 2022, according to a recent Harvard Youth Poll. There are more than 25 million young men in the U.S., enough to sway several key races. But only if they show up.

“I don’t know what I would do if I could go back in time,” Zeka, the Iowan, said of 2024. But as far as this year’s races are concerned, he said, “I think it’s important that we all make our choices.”

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From MS Now.