With hunting party, Walz invites moderate male voters into the fold
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Gov. Tim Walz is in the midst of getting out the male vote for the Democratic presidential ticket. Recent polling shows he and the presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, are struggling to gain the support of young men. They face a double-digit deficit in support from the demographic when compared to former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance.
Walz spent the weekend in Minnesota, bringing photographers and reporters along to traditionally masculine events, including a high school football game in Mankato and the annual Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener in Sleepy Eye.
Also along for the opener: a group of outdoors-focused influencers and their online followers tuning in virtually.
David Clayton — an author, marketing professional and advocate for homeless veterans — was with the governor in person. He has upwards of 230,000 TikTok followers and said he’s an independent voter.
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Clayton joined Morning Edition Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the experience and what the Harris-Walz campaign needs to do to reach male voters.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen to the full conversation by clicking on the player button.
Do you see yourself as an influencer?
I actually do not. This influencer thing is all brand new to me. I think I’ve grown a large community of like-minded individuals from all spectrums of the political game — not just Democrats, but Republicans, Independents and Americans — who just want to take pride in being American again and find some semblance of sanity and unity again, instead of this polarization, this all or nothing, do or die kind of mentality. I think America is very hungry to come together again in this ever-so-divisive time.
And why do you see the Harris-Walz ticket as being the connector here?
Well, the one thing that really took me aback by Gov. Walz is he is not a politician. He’s an average, everyday American. I’m a registered Independent. He had all walks of life on the pheasant hunt with him, all spectrums.
There was one Republican influencer who said outright that his brand deals would cancel him if he even had a photo op with Gov. Walz because it is so polarized and divisive right now.
But Gov. Walz was just a normal guy. He was so pleasant, so kind, funny. It’s that kind of unity and compassion we need, because I think America is really tired of the legacy politicians, is really wanting some genuine leadership, and I think we’re going to have that with Harris-Walz as the ticket.
That Republican-leaning influencer you mentioned who didn’t want to post much because of fear of losing some sponsorships — do you know other men who are quiet about their support for the Harris ticket? And what do you make of that?
The Trump movement thing is absolutism. I’ve got followers from all walks of life and I tell them often that I can sit at the same table with a Republican in total disagreement and still have mutual respect for them as Americans.
But this absolutism, this “their way or no way” MAGA mindset, it’s just not what our country was was built off of. It’s not what makes America so great. And we really need to get back to some kind of sense of unity and pride in our fellow Americans. There are many, many MAGA-minded Americans who aren’t really so MAGA-minded; they're more independent, but they can’t say it out loud because of fear of any kind of cancelation.
How should the Harris-Walz ticket talk to more independent male voters who might not be as enthusiastic right now?
We had a little kind of campfire session, minus the campfire, after the pheasant hunt and Gov. Walz gave equal time to everybody, if not even more time to the Republican-based outdoorsmen that were with us, because he wanted to reiterate his general message: we have so much more common ground than is said publicly and out loud about our disagreements.
I think the Harris-Walz ticket is doing a really good job of reaching out to the everyday American, in trying to broadcast that mindset. I think it’s a party more focused on unity than it is on just winning. It seems one side of the aisle is only focused on winning, and the Harris-Walz ticket, in my personal opinion, seems to be more so on unifying the country to be able to make us as great as I personally believe we are.
Do you think both campaigns using social media influencers is a good, workable solution to reach folks who may not be paying attention to mainstream media?
No disrespect to you as a news organization, as a legacy news organization, but I think we’re really seeing a turn of the tides here as far as where people are getting the bulk of their opinion pieces and their news. Frankly, legacy media, so much of it is more op-ed opinion pieces than it is just the kind of Walter Cronkite-era facts news broadcasting.
I think a lot of the younger generation really find the bulk of their data online, on social media now. And there are echo chambers, of course, on either side of a political spectrum or any given topic. But there’s also a lot of fact-finding information out there as well as misinformation and disinformation.
That was one of the things that I did discuss with Gov. Walz. I’d really like to see — not censorship, because we do hold freedom of speech dear — but at least some kind of program that outlines, “Hey, we’re seeing this script repeated and its origins are coming from bad foreign actors and it’s being shared and re-shared so much.” Listing it out so the general public has a better understanding of where information is originating from, to be able to then make up their own minds for themselves.