The Democratic Party is quietly rolling out a $20 million plan aimed at clawing back support from young men—one of the fastest-departing groups from the left in recent elections. The plan, code-named SAM, short for “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,” reads more like a social science experiment than a political campaign.
According to a report by the New York Times, Democratic donors and strategists have been meeting behind closed doors at luxury hotels since their 2024 defeat, desperate to understand why so many young male voters abandoned the party in favor of Donald Trump.
These meetings, according to national political correspondent Shane Goldmacher, have produced what looks like an anthropological deep-dive into a group party elites appear to barely recognize. SAM’s central mission is to reverse the collapse in Democratic support among young men, particularly online.
One highlight of the SAM proposal: targeted advertising in video games.
That’s right. Democrats are preparing to flood the digital spaces where young men hang out—video games, social media, and content platforms—with tailored ads designed to mimic the language and cultural style that resonates in “these spaces,” as the report puts it.
In other words, the left is now paying millions to figure out how to talk to normal guys.
This latest plan comes as the Democratic National Committee is facing its own internal crisis. Just weeks ago, the DNC moved to remove anti-gun activist David Hogg from his vice chair position—a role he was given specifically to attract young male voters. That experiment appears to have backfired, as Hogg is now reportedly planning to bankroll primary challenges against incumbent Democrats with his own $20 million war chest.
Hogg’s removal from leadership sparked infighting within the DNC. According to Breitbart News, the party’s credentials committee voted 13–2 to throw out the February election results that elevated Hogg and Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-PA) to co-vice chair positions.
Behind the scenes, the left seems to be spiraling over how to recover what used to be a reliable demographic. Young men, especially working-class ones, are increasingly skeptical of woke ideology, open borders, gender politics, and the relentless push to vilify masculinity. Many feel alienated by a party that treats them like a problem to fix rather than a constituency to serve.
That’s why President Trump’s unapologetically pro-America, pro-strength, and pro-freedom message has resonated so deeply. It’s also why Democrats now find themselves in the awkward position of having to “study” the very men they once took for granted—because they no longer understand what makes them tick.
In fact, the SAM project’s language makes that disconnect painfully clear. It doesn’t suggest engaging with men authentically, but instead recommends studying the “syntax, language, and content” that makes posts go viral among them—like they’re lab rats instead of voters.
Rather than addressing the real cultural grievances that drove men away from the party—rising censorship, economic emasculation, vilification of traditional values—the Democrats are focusing on PR and psychology.
But even the most perfectly worded Twitch ad won’t erase the fact that under Democratic leadership, young men have watched their freedoms shrink, their opportunities vanish, and their voices silenced.
This $20 million experiment might provide some entertaining campaign ads, but it won’t fix the Democrats’ real problem: a broken worldview that continues to treat young men as enemies rather than allies.
If Democrats want to understand what happened, they don’t need a code-named plan. They just need to listen to the American men who already told them: “We’re done.”
