Joe Biden has 99 problems this week—and men are a big one. Any Democrat who replaces him will almost surely face similar difficulties from a group of people who think of themselves as courageous tough guys, but are among the American electorate’s most fearful voters. If Democrats want to win in November, whether Biden is replaced or not, they need to figure out how to assuage men’s fears—without alienating the women who are key to delivering Democrats a victory.

According to recent polling, no demographic group has confidence that the president remains young enough to do the job, even among groups that largely still plan to support him. After his debate debacle, he hemorrhaged support, with a New York Times/Siena poll finding that Trump now leads Biden by 6 points, the widest margin those pollsters have seen since 2015.

Trump’s advantage among male voters, and especially among men without college degrees, is well-documented. But Biden overcame it in 2020, and this year, Democrats have a sharper edge with female voters, many of whom are incensed about Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices overturning Roe v. Wade and opening the door for Republican-led state legislatures to criminalize abortion, and potentially come for contraception and fertility treatments next.

That Republicans in Congress have refused to protect contraception or IVF, and continue to oppose abortion even if they don’t really want to discuss it in an election year, does not help their cause. Even Trump, who brags about appointing judges who overturned Roe, sees this for the catastrophe it is, and is trying to convince voters that he won’t ban abortion nationwide.

One question, though, is whether Democratic advantages with women will outweigh Republican advantages with men, which under Trump have grown. Previously reliable Democratic voters, including Black, Hispanic, and young men, have shifted rightward. And Biden’s increasingly visible frailty doesn’t help the Democratic math.

While women actually moved slightly towards Biden after the debate, perhaps recalling the exuberant and unbridled misogyny of Trump and his presidency, men........

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