Trump and Vance must appeal to female voters in order to secure victory
A warning to Donald Trump and JD Vance: Tread carefully when it comes to women, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
All signs point to a tight race in November, and the GOP ticket is already behind with women: In five battleground states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Harris leads by 9 points or more with the ladies.
Closing that gap may be an uphill battle.
Even if Trump were ahead, it would be foolish to ignore the power of women voters: About 7.4 million more women than men were registered to vote in 2022, according to the Center for American Women in Politics, and more women than men have voted in every presidential election since 1964.
Yes, Trump prevailed over a woman in 2016, but Hillary Clinton ran with decades of political baggage that repelled many voters.
And that was before Roe v. Wade was overturned, which made abortion a hot-button issue, particularly for women: It hurt GOPers in 2022, and Democrats see that as the ace up their sleeve this year, too.
Besides, the chance to vote for a woman who feels like a relative newcomer will almost certainly attract female voters who sat out other elections (or even some of those who pulled the lever for Trump in 2016 because they couldn’t stomach the alternative).
Sure, there are plenty of women who want what Trump and Vance are selling: school choice, parents rights, a better economy, safer neighborhoods and a more secure border.
But this is a different political landscape than 2016, and both Trump and Vance need to keep on the straight and narrow to avoid alienating female voters who might otherwise agree with them on policy.
Maybe Trump should start by quit hurling derogatory nicknames and ad hominem insults at his foes.
He can ding Kamala on policy without making crass comments or veering into petty pot shots about her looks or gender that might make women balk.
He and his running mate must certainly avoid missteps like the one Vance made in 2021, when he blasted “childless cat ladies” who run the country but are “miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
He also foolishly suggested penalizing women without kids with higher taxes.
For real?
Vance’s comments resurfaced recently and spread like wildfire on social media, drawing backlash from even conservative women.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty he can and should attack Harris on — inflation, the border disaster (which she oversaw), her lack of experience and her support for unpopular far-left causes, like defunding police, packing the court and the Green New Deal.
Trump and Vance need to reassure women that they take them seriously as a voting bloc, and they have no interest in pushing national policy that controls women’s decisions on family matters.
The GOP ticket knows women will play a major role in deciding this election, perhaps they should start acting like it.
