A recent study analyzing data from the British Election Study has found that young men in the UK are not more rightwing than older age groups, contradicting claims that they are a key driver behind the success of parties like Reform UK.
Study Findings
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) examined data from approximately 30,000 respondents annually. The results show that age is a stronger predictor of political orientation than gender. While men aged 18 to 25 are less progressive than women of the same age, they remain more progressive and less likely to vote for rightwing parties compared to older men.
Dr. Chris Bick, lead author of the report, stated: "There is a sense that young men are shifting rapidly to the right, but we have not found much evidence for that at all. They remain the most progressive cohort of men across a raft of issues."
Political Implications
The findings suggest that politicians should not write off young men as lost to misogynistic online influencers. Dr. Bick added: "If you are interested in advancing progressive politics, this is still a base of support for you. Politicians looking to appeal to younger voters will have to make sure they do not alienate this cohort by trying too much to appeal to older voters."
Context and Trends
Commentators have highlighted the appeal of populist rightwing politics to young men, citing figures like Andrew Tate. Some Labour MPs have expressed concern and formed a group to counter "toxic influencers." Polls show that 13% of young men aged 18-24 voted for Reform UK, compared to 6% of women.
However, the IPPR research indicates that while young men have moved rightward in recent years, they have done so in line with other groups. Support for conservative parties among young men rose from 18% in 2022 to just under 30% in 2025, mirroring trends among older men, whose support increased from 35% to over 50%.
Young men are only about 5 percentage points more likely to support Reform UK since the election, far less than older age groups. On issues like immigration, race, women's rights, and homosexuality, young men are more progressive than older men, though more conservative than women of the same age.
Dr. Bick noted that the gender gap among young voters is driven more by young women moving left than young men moving right. "Young women are moving to the left more than young men are moving to the right," he said, though this divergence is more pronounced in other countries.
