Why Kamala Harris needs Joe Rogan to solve her problem with male voters

Kamala Harris is reportedly planning to appear on Joe Rogan's hugely popular podcast as polls suggest the vice president needs a boost to win over male voters from Donald Trump.

Harris' campaign team is said to have discussed plans for the vice president's appearance with Rogan's team The Joe Rogan Experience ahead of Election Day in November, but nothing has been confirmed yet, Reuters reported on Monday.

Rogan's podcast is the most popular in the United States, regularly attracting millions of predominantly male listeners and viewers. Harris' potential plan to appear on the online show comes as polls frequently suggest Trump is outperforming Harris among male voters, which could prove crucial in the head-to-head race.

Harris, who is seeking to become the first female U.S. president in history, has recently launched a media boom with talk shows and podcasts over more traditional news channels. This also included an appearance on the Call her dad Podcast that is very popular among young women.

Trump has also hinted that he will soon be a guest on Rogan's podcast, but did not provide specific details. The former president recently appeared on several podcasts aimed at being popular with a young male audience, such as: Flagrant with comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh.

Newsweek has emailed Harris' campaign and Rogan's team seeking comment.

Kamala Harris' struggles with male voters

Lakshya Jain, co-founder of Split Ticket, an election analysis website, said that Harris has made “minimal gains” among male voters since joining the 2024 race, and so an appearance on Rogan's podcast could improve her numbers.

“Democrats will absolutely hate it, but Harris needs Rogan way more than the other way around,” Jain wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“She has a problem with male voters and appearing on the Rogan podcast gives her exposure that *nothing* else would.”

A Pew Research poll of 4,025 registered voters conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 found Harris narrowly ahead of Trump, 48 percent to 47 percent, in a full vote of presidential candidates, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1 .9 percentage points.

The results also show that there is a significant gender gap between Trump and Harris. More than half of male voters (51 percent) prefer Trump to Harris (43 percent). The results are largely mirrored among female voters: Harris is at 52 percent, while Trump is at 43 percent.

Other polls have also shown that Trump is the preferred candidate of male voters in the November elections.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll of 3,145 registered voters conducted Oct. 11-13 showed Harris with a one-point lead over Trump overall (47 to 46), with Trump leading among male voters 49 to 46 percent ahead. Harris has a 50 to 43 percent lead among female voters in the poll.

There was also a 16-point gap in favor of Trump among male voters in a recent NBC News poll (56 percent to 40 percent).

This year's presidential election could see the largest gender gap in history, according to polls and experts interviewed Newsweek already in August.

Kellen Habibelahy, chairman of the High School Republican Federation of Virginia, said Harris' core campaign policies of protecting abortion access and reproductive rights are not appealing to male voters.

“She spends most of her time talking about abortion, but neglects hot topics like the fentanyl crisis that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, the crisis at our border, or the fact that many Americans simply cannot afford food or gas.” said Habibelahy Newsweek in August.

“One of the biggest concerns I keep hearing is that many young people are afraid they won’t be able to afford a home.”

Jackson Katz, an author and expert on gender-based violence prevention education, said previously Newsweek.

“Democrats have been very bad at reaching men, particularly young men who live online. Across the virtual universe, on social media, on podcasts, and in the misogynistic manosphere, they've heard the message for years: 'Democrats especially hate men.' white men.'

“It is presented as an obvious, objective statement of fact. I've long argued that Democrats need to respond aggressively and speak directly to men, including young men, and say, 'We see you, we hear you, and we care about you.' .'”

According to Pew Research, Trump narrowly beat Joe Biden among male voters by 50 percent to 48 in the 2020 election. Among women, Biden had an 11-point lead (55 percent to 44).

In the 2016 election, Trump won among men by 11 points (52 to 41) over Hillary Clinton. Among female voters, the former secretary of state had a lead of 15 percentage points (54 percent to 39).

Joe Rogan's audience demographics

In March, Bloomberg reported that Rogan's show is by far the most popular podcast hosted on Spotify, with around 14.5 million followers on the streaming platform.

This number is almost three times higher than the second most followed program. Daily TED Talks to 5 million followers, with those mentioned above Call her dad Third with 3.7 million.

According to a 2020 analysis by Media Monitors, Rogan's audience and listenership was approximately 71 percent male, with the average age of his listeners being 24 years old.

The Joe Rogan Experience also has 17.4 million subscribers on YouTube.