The David Frum Show

Episode: "MAGA Has Repulsed Young Women"

Date: November 12, 2025
Host: David Frum (The Atlantic)
Guest: Sarah Longwell (Publisher, The Bulwark; prominent anti-Trump Republican strategist)

Overview:

This episode dives into the dramatic gender gap revealed in the 2025 U.S. elections, especially among voters under 30. Host David Frum and guest Sarah Longwell unpack what’s causing younger women to overwhelmingly support Democrats—and why young men are drifting in the opposite direction. They explore the social, political, and algorithmic forces behind the divide, framing it as central to both party strategies and the future of American democracy. The latter portion of the episode sees Frum recommending George Packer’s new novel, "The Emergency,” as an exploration of societal decline and identity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Government Shutdown & Democratic Infighting

• Frum contextualizes the recent government shutdown, arguing (04:00–13:00) that Democratic activists’ disappointment with party leadership is misguided, because:

  • The outcome on tax credits (affordable care subsidies) was never realistically winnable.
  • Shutdowns rarely yield legislative victories but serve to highlight political contrasts.
  • Democrats, he argues, successfully messaged Trump as the source of chaos, rather than themselves.
  • The true intra-party fight is about party identity: consensus-building vs. militant activism.

  "The Democratic activist wing has deceived itself for now a decade that America wants a Bernie Sanders type government, and America does not." — David Frum (12:25)

2. Gender Gap Explosion: 2025 Elections

(14:05–18:35)

• Massive turnout among women under 30 delivered huge margins for Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York.

  • Example: In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger was +64 among women under 30; Mikie Sherrill was +62 in New Jersey.
  • Across these states, ~81–82% of women under 30 chose the Democratic candidate.

• Marginal gender gap by age group: Among those 65+, men and women vote much more similarly.

• Men under 30: Also leaned more Democratic than prior years, but the margin is much smaller than for women.

  "...with women, it's just not even close. It's like a total ownership by the Democratic Party of this young cohort of women." — Sarah Longwell (18:07)

3. Why the Gap?

A. Turnout Patterns & Education

• College-educated suburban voters—traditionally Republican—now swell Democratic ranks in off-year elections.
• Trump-era Republicans have attracted more “low-propensity” and male voters, who don’t turn out as reliably in off-years (18:40–21:35).
• Education gap overlaps with gender gap: Young women now far more likely to be college educated than young men.

B. Social & Media Splintering

• Young men and women now inhabit "algorithmically different universes".

  • Women: Hyper-engaged, organized, and receive more news on reproductive rights, affordability, and social justice.
  • Men: More likely to be “red-pilled” (i.e., have adopted anti-elite, anti-woke, sometimes conspiratorial mentalities), often consuming male-dominated subcultural media (e.g., certain podcasts, gaming spaces).
  • COVID disrupted traditional socialization, making it harder for young men and women to connect, further widening the gap.

  “They live in algorithmically different universes, and that is pushing them to both not really understand each other, not be able to talk to each other.” — Sarah Longwell (24:17)

C. Abortion and Reproductive Rights

• Abortion came up unprompted in focus groups with young women, but both Frum & Longwell argue it’s part of a larger tapestry of issues (29:01–31:15).

  "I just, I don't think it is ... something bigger is happening than just reproductive rights." — Sarah Longwell (31:05)

D. Cultural Shifts and Resentments

• Older women experienced Trump (and similar men) as familiar, dismissable; younger women see the behaviors Trump normalized manifesting in their peers—with less willingness to tolerate them.

• Rise of online misogyny: Public figures like Andrew Tate, “trad wives,” and anti-feminist messaging have entered the mainstream of what young men are exposed to.

  • Some young women now say, “I don’t really need men,” and see them as emotionally immature or hostile.

• Men express alienation: Some express a strong desire for marriage and children that they feel women are uninterested in, prompting them to retreat into insular male spaces.

  “[Women say], I don’t really need men ... I get a great deal of my emotional sustenance from other women. ... And then you listen to the men who say, I want to get married, I want to have kids. ... then cause them to sort of turn inward and find community in the bro-y podcasting spaces, gaming spaces...” — Sarah Longwell (26:49)

4. The Limits and Worries for Both Parties (45:28–50:00)

Advice:

• Republicans: If you want to do better with women, “reject Donald Trump.” Trump himself, and the culture he’s fostered, fuels young women’s outrage and engagement against the GOP.
• Democrats: To bring in young men, be present in their algorithmic worlds (podcasts, online spaces) and focus on issues resonant with them.
• J.D. Vance is cited as an example of a Republican figure who appeals to young men via intellectualizing Trumpism, but is deeply off-putting to young women.

Local Government Implications

• The Democratic advantage among young, college-educated women could remake state and local governments.

• However, Republicans still benefit from older, less-educated white male voters, especially given gerrymandering and the U.S. electoral system’s structure.

  “I’ve always thought that the only way to get our politics to return to normal is for Republicans to endure sustained electoral defeats, which is not what’s been happening.” — Sarah Longwell (50:05)

5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Young Women & Trump:

  "Young women don't want to have anything to do with Donald Trump." — Sarah Longwell (45:55)

• On MAGA's Effect on Gender Politics:

  "For younger women, it is not just Trump, but the forces Trump has unleashed on the young men around them." — Sarah Longwell (33:07)

• On Red-Pilling and Digital Segregation:

  “Men ... reject it actively. In fact, it makes me angry. ... they live in algorithmically different universes.” — Sarah Longwell (24:05) “You get this sort of young man culture ... hostile to women.” — Sarah Longwell (25:11)

• On Party Realignment:

  "The diploma divide is essential to understand ... that’s driving the gender divide." — Sarah Longwell (43:04)

• On the Old and Young Interacting:

  "People over 65 ... mostly they're men and women living together ... they converge, because they're talking to each other." — David Frum (25:11)

6. George Packer’s "The Emergency"

(53:00–58:00)

• Frum’s endorsement of George Packer’s new novel, noting its ability to illuminate the current era’s sense of decline and disconnection by making the familiar newly strange.

  "In many of us have a feeling that we live in a world that is not the world we expected to live in. ... George is making our present day world more intelligible by making it more strange." — David Frum (56:14)

Key Timestamps

• 04:00–13:00: Frum’s analysis on the government shutdown, Democratic infighting, and party identity crisis
• 14:05–18:35: Sarah Longwell explains the magnitude of the youth gender gap in the elections
• 21:35–31:15: Algorithmic segregation, red-pilling, abortion, and sociocultural change between men and women
• 33:00–36:00: Generational differences in tolerance, Trump as a catalyst for social division, and rise of online misogyny
• 43:00–46:00: Education (“diploma”) divide as underpinning the gender divide, and realignment of off-year turnout
• 47:04–50:01: How future state and local governments may shift as the electorate changes
• 53:00–58:00: Frum’s review and unpacking of George Packer’s "The Emergency"

Episode Tone & Language

• Candid, analytical, and occasionally wry
• Both speakers weave in data and personal anecdote
• Willingness to speculate and challenge each other

Takeaway

The 2025 elections have exposed not just a generational but a gendered fault line in American politics—one fueled by both deep ideological divides and the increasingly fragmented information environment. Young women are becoming a dominant Democratic force as a reaction to MAGA’s culture and realignment, while young men, left alienated, are drawn to their own growing (and sometimes toxic) subcultures. Both parties face daunting questions—about coalition, culture, and connection—as they eye 2026 and beyond.

For further exploration, check out George Packer’s "The Emergency," recommended by David Frum as a fictional meditation on societal breakdown and renewal.