The discussion of the decline in the American ( and international ) birth rate continues with a long article in The New Yorker discussing Anna Sussman’s book which I have commented on before, noting that males are generally ignored in the discussion. To the rescue, j ust last week Equimundo released “State of the American Men 2026”.
Among the findings about men: high worries about their financial future but mostly confident about the American Dream still being attainable. Yes, lots of time on line and migration to what are called “grift economies” on line, i.e. speculative wagering. Men are looking for opportunity where they can, or perhaps shortcuts in a system not seen as totally open to them.
As for family formation and parenthood, fatherhood is associated with manhood. 62% of men say having children is important, compared with 81% for owning a home and 65% for being married.
As for what defines success or manhood, 58% of men say financial stability defines success versus only 37% saying it defines manhood. Fatherhood defines success for 15%, but for 38% of men it defines manhood – the highest rated of all the indicators, beating financial security by one percentage point.
Men support various governmental policies “built on the promise of upward mobility and institutional fairness”: including stock trading bans by politicians (66%), paid paternity leave (68%), insuring wealthy pay their fair share of taxes (73% support raising taxes on billionaires), more accessible health care (77% support universal health care).
How many of these are crucial issues in the upcoming midterm elections? Certainly high gas prices that make a family choose between getting to work versus skipping a doctor’s appointment is a key issue. Reproductive freedom was not on the questionnaire of Equimundo. But fatherhood was (and is the most important key to feelings of manhood), and the decline of males in the workplace and economy is perhaps the key deterrent to them being selected by females as partners and hence fathers.
Abortion polling is always to be viewed with skepticism. In a recent Gallup Poll 30% say abortion should be legal in all circumstances with 13% saying illegal in all. 51% call themselves prochoice and 43% prolife. Then there is the middle. I have always thought that the majority wants abortion legal for “rape, incest and me.”
In some states this November, abortion rights are a crucial issue. In Maine, Susan Collins is having to defend her support for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, but polling does not reflect a decrease in her support since her last election. She is touting her bringing Federal funds to Maine. Democrats are hoping the loss of Roe will motivate their base to turn out.
Four states have abortion on the ballot: Virginia, Nevada, Idaho, Missouri. The first three have ballot measures to create a state constitutional right to abortion. Missouri has a ballot question to repeal the 2024 ballot measure that created a state constitutional right. Crucially perhaps, the 2026 Missouri ballot measure also prohibits gender transition procedures for minors, thus conflating two hot button issues.
How will men vote on this? Polling indicates a gender gap of about 10% in female vs male support for abortion rights. There is polling support indicating that men feel devalued and treated unfairly in the system. Not being able to control the pregnancy of their partner may feed into this. On the reverse side, not wanting more children than they can support may lead to support of abortion rights.
According to Equimundo, Democrats should be talking about fairness and upward mobility, and I would add reproductive freedom, in addition to tariffs, the war and high gas prices. Republicans are talking about Socialism and fear, avoiding any mention of abortion because they know it is a losing issue, including the mailing of pills across state lines, which is their next big target.
The gender gap in the 2024 election was about 10 points (it was 12 points in 2020), indicating perhaps that the loss of Roedid not lead to greater gender gap (the gender gap in Presidential elections is about the same as the gender gap on abortion). Pollsters spend their careers cutting and slicing electoral returns by all kinds of variables: race, class, gender, education, religion and on and on. On the male vote from 2016 to 2024, the black male support for Democrats fell 5 points but the Hispanic male vote fell 19 points. The white non-Hispanic male vote rose from 31 percent Democratic in 2016 to 38% in both 2020 and 2024. The non-college educated voters in 2024 were 35% female and 29% male for Democrats. For youth voters, the Democratic share hovers at about half.
The male voter, especially the non-college educated, presents an opportunity for Democrats. The real needs of fatherhood need to addressed beyond military parades, ICE raids (and public executions) designed, so the Republicans think, to appeal to manhood. Instead, supporting programs for boys and men to launch careers that don’t require a college degree is an opportunity, as well as addressing the cost of housing. Owning a house is seen as a precursor to starting a family. These ought to be bi-partisan issues. We will see.
For New Yorker article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/28/inconceivable-the-impossibility-of-family-in-an-age-of-uncertainty-anna-louise-sussman-book-review
Equimundo: State of American Men 2026: https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/State-of-American-Men-2026.pdf
Guttmacher Report on 2026 Election: https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/abortion-rights-are-ballot-four-states-2026
Gallup Poll of Abortion: https://news.gallup.com/poll/321143/americans-stand-abortion.aspx
