Trump's gender gap is not hard to understand

The electoral “gender gap” — the tendency for women to lean more Democratic than men — has been a fact of American political life since 1980. But it has grown especially wide with the rise of Donald Trump and may reach an unprecedented magnitude in this election. A new NBC News poll shows that women favor Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump by 58% to 37%. Trump has the lead among male voters, 52% to 40%. Considering that Harris’ advantage among women is more decisive than Trump’s advantage among men — and that voter turnout is higher among women — this is good news for Democrats.

One may debate the causes of this trend, which include Trump’s personal baggage — numerous accusations of sexual assault, including a case in which he has been found civilly liable — and the fallout from state bans on abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned. What’s not in dispute is that Trump’s efforts to reach out to women have been almost comically bad.

His latest move is to position himself as the strong man who will protect the little ladies. In a post on his Truth Social network last weekend, he asserted that women are now poorer, less healthy, less safe and more depressed than they were four years ago and he went on to promise that he would fix all that.

According to Trump: “Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free! You will no longer be thinking about abortion” — apparently because abortion laws are now a state matter, a meager consolation to many women in states with bans. Trump also promised to “protect women at a level never seen before.”

This message came across as even creepier when delivered a couple of days later at a rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump sounded like a third-rate hypnotist intoning, “You will no longer have anxiety,” while blustering about refusing to believe the “fake news” that women don’t like him. That might be fine for women at his rallies, who obviously do like Trump; to many others, it may have a “pest who won’t take no for an answer” vibe.

True, patronizing rhetoric targeting women is not unique to Trump or even to Republicans; some may remember a cringeworthy 2012 ad in which actor Lena Dunham likened first-time voting to first-time sex and Barack Obama to a caring boyfriend. But at least that didn’t come from Obama himself.

Aside from issues of particular concern to women, the extra-large gender gap in 2024 is due in significant part to the perception of misogyny on the GOP side. It’s vice presidential contender JD Vance ranting about “childless cat ladies” like an internet troll come to life and refusing to back down from remarks that depict childless people — childless women, in particular — as embittered, angry and pathological. It’s Trump responding to sexual assault allegations by suggesting that the accusers are too ugly to assault. It’s both Trump and Vance using sexist language and imagery to portray Harris as an empty-headed striver who got ahead in politics by providing sexual favors to male politicians. (Yes, Trump is notorious for crass insults directed at both women and men, but the attacks on Harris often distinctly target her gender.)

With such a record, “I’ll protect you” feels less reassuring than scary. Trump’s quest for the female vote evokes a male chauvinist from a distant past racking his brain over the question, “What do women want?”

Apparently, not Trump.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.