Come on, Joe, throw us guys a bone in the SOTU!!
President Biden delivers his 2024 State of the Union (SOTU) Address on March 7 — in an election year where he trails with male voters, will he put forward any male gender issues at all?
A Guest Post by Mark Sutton, who runs the “Men and the 2024 Election” Substack — menandthe2024election.substack.com.
If you wish to share Mark’s post, please use the canonical URL from its original publication on Substack:
menandthe2024election.substack.com/p/come-on-joe-throw-us-guys-a-bone
On March 7, President Biden will deliver one of the most important speeches of this election year, the annual State of the Union Address. I will be listening intently with a particular focus on, you guessed it, his attention, or lack thereof, to male gender issues. Will his speech make male voters more likely to vote for him? Especially in swing states where every vote counts, moderate and independent male voters may make the difference in this election.
In the latest national polls, Biden is still showing poorly, and he still trails Trump or any Republican significantly with male voters as has been the pattern for Democrats in recent elections. The Democrats’ lack of attention to male gender issues is what I call the Democrat Disconnect with men, which is why they trend Republican. Therefore, President Biden has an opportunity here to address male voters directly to close that gap and improve his numbers.
Here is my suggestion for what a part of the speech could look like:
Suggested text for the 2024 State of the Union by President Biden: My fellow Americans, I would also like to spend to moment to speak about another group of people in our country who are struggling, and that’s our boys and men. While my administration fully supports women and particularly securing their right to choose, the challenges that our men and boys are facing must be addressed, too. Men’s life expectancy is now 5.9 years less than women’s — which is why I’m urging Congress to pass H.R.4182 — Men’s Health Awareness and Improvement Act, which would create an office of Men’s Health. This act would also help men suffering from mental health and addiction issues. In 2022 alone, over 120,000 American men and boys died from “deaths of despair” — suicide, opioids, and alcohol-related deaths. That’s over twice the number of servicemen who died in Vietnam. For the good of the country, we must work to help our boys and men.
That’s it. Pretty simple, eh? Offering support for such a bill costs him nothing politically, but signals to men that he cares about them. How hard is this? Is it really political suicide for a Democrat to simply offer some basic support for men and boys?
While many other issues could also be brought up, such as boys falling behind in education, the high number of men who are incarcerated, the loneliness epidemic, or the unfair family court system, I have chosen what is probably the least controversial topic.
Biden needs to appeal to all voters, what I call the All-demographic Strategy, similar to Gov. Howard Dean’s Fifty-State strategy that worked so well from 2006–2012. There are a few major issues and themes that he will likely address:
- The economy is showing signs of strength, with stock market highs, low unemployment, and the belief that a full-blown recession has been avoided
- The southern border issue and the related bill which was blocked by Republicans
- Abortion and female reproductive and health rights (Note: I am pro-choice, and support a woman’s right to choose and to health access; but these are distinct from male reproductive rights, which entail a different set of issues that I will delve into in another post; I highly suspect he will not address any male reproductive rights issues.)
- International issues such as Ukraine, the Middle East, and Asia (Taiwan/Philippines/China).
Last year, his Unity Agenda focused some important issues that significantly affect men. Specifically, he spoke to opioid overdoses, the majority of which are male, and veterans’ issues, which also include a large number of men. He spoke about improving healthcare access, another important issue for men, as they are less likely to be covered than women. He specifically pointed out cancer, which affects too many people, but is more likely to kill men. However, he didn’t call out men specifically. The Unity Agenda has one item focused on providing female veterans and beneficiaries access to abortion counseling and services.
I believe President Biden covered a lot of important issues with that agenda; unfortunately, the press tends to focus predominantly on a few hot-button issues, and a lot of these issues that are fundamental to so many Americans got put on the back burner.
In this year’s speech, I suspect he will refer to certain groups of Americans, their struggles, and policies to address them. Case in point, women and the abortion issue. I suspect he may also mention the struggles of people of particular demographics such as racial groups. We know that economic issues are important to men, but of course, those are not exclusively male issues — everyone cares about the economy. I believe he should also include a section where he specifically calls out what he is doing for men.
So come on, Joe, please throw us guys a bone!!
Originally published at https://menandthe2024election.substack.com/p/come-on-joe-throw-us-guys-a-bone
