Trump and Harris face a persistent gender gap heading into Election Day
Female voters are much more likely to say they support Harris, with some polls showing the vice president holding a double-digit advantage. Surveys show Trump leading with men.
Memos on bathroom stalls. Celebrities on the trail. And supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris girding for the possibility of a secret vote from Republican women as Liz Cheney proclaims that women “will save the day.”
For the second time in a decade, a Democratic woman is running against Donald Trump in a presidential race. And once again, the former president is facing a persistent gender gap. It is unusual that both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns are focused on the same slice of voters, but as the race narrows, both Harris and Trump have found themselves pulling out the stops to mobilize women.
Going into Election Day, female voters are much more likely to say they support Harris, with some polls showing the vice president holding a double-digit advantage. In an outlier poll from J. Ann Selzer for the Des Moines Register, Harris has leaped ahead of Trump in Iowa, a state he won in 2016 and again in 2020. According to the survey, which does not disclose how it is weighted to party affiliation, the shift is in part driven by women voters aged 65 and over, who are breaking for Harris by a two-to-one margin.
“Harris is showing a clear lead with women, the question for tomorrow is whether it will be a historic one for a Democrat candidate,” a pollster for J.L. Partners Scarlett Maguire said. “Indeed, we have found that amongst undecided voters the biggest hesitation about voting Trump relates to concerns about what a conservative influence on his agenda would mean for women’s rights.”
Meanwhile, surveys show that Trump has built a solid lead with men. He has in particular sought to court young male voters, appearing on the popular “All-in Podcast” and others hosted by Joe Rogan; the Nelk Boys; MIT-affiliated computer scientist Lex Fridman; and others.
Rating: 5