Russell Brand, the British comedian and actor turned streamer, was sentenced Monday in London to 10 years and six months in prison for one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, charges he had denied. Brand is among the latest high-profile figures associated with the online "manoverse" to face criminal proceedings. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, influencers who built massive followings among young men, have been held in Miami since July as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom, where prosecutors have authorized 59 charges against them, including rape and human trafficking.
Brand and the Tate brothers became popular figures within parts of the pro-Trump online ecosystem, and Brand broadcast his show from the 2024 Republican National Convention. Two years later, their legal cases unfolded against a backdrop of sharply increased support for Democratic candidates among young men in last week's midterms. Voters under 30 backed Democratic House candidates by 73 percent to 25 percent, according to the Voter Poll by SSRS, a national election survey conducted for ABC, The , CBS, CNN, Fox News, MS NOW and NBC.
Two years earlier, they favored Democrats by 14 points in the national House exit poll. Young men, whom Trump targeted through appearances with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Andrew Schulz during the 2024 campaign, posted some of the largest shifts toward Democrats. "We lost all the podcast bros," David Sacks, the venture capitalist and former White House AI and crypto czar, said on the All-In podcast over the weekend, naming Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Von and Megyn Kelly.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." Republican strategist Mike Madrid told Newsweek that Democrats have an opportunity to retain the young Latino men who first entered politics through Trump. "They've got to develop a working-class agenda and a blue-collar economy," he said. The Voter Poll interviewed more than 100,000 voters in person, online and by phone between October 19 and November 3, for a national sample of about 80,000.
Voters ages 18 to 24 backed Democrats by 77 percent to 21 percent, a 56-point margin that exceeded the 34-point advantage Barack Obama achieved among the same age group in the 2008 presidential election. Voters under 30 accounted for about 11 percent of the electorate this time, compared with 18 percent in 2008. Democratic House candidates won 66 percent of men ages 18 to 29 and 78 percent of women in the same age group.
Among white voters under 30, Democrats led 65 percent to 33 percent. Latino voters also showed strong support for Democrats. Latino men nationally backed Trump by 54 percent to 44 percent in 2024, according to NBC News' exit poll.
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