Female voters in battleground states care about far more than just abortion
Women are the most coveted voter block in America.More women than men have voted in presidential elections since 1980.
Even though the voter gender gap in the 2020 presidential election was narrower in than it was in 2016, the media widely acknowledged that women decided the 2020 election. My prediction is that 2024 will be no different.But this election season, the prevailing narrative about women’s priorities could not be more wrong. Since July, I’ve been traveling the country on a battleground state bus tour.
My team and I logged 10,000 miles across 12 states, speaking with women of all political stripes. If the punditry was correct, then all summer long I would have heard women bemoaning the Dobbs Supreme Court decision and their lack of abortion access.Women would have come out in droves to back Vice President Kamala Harris since her platform is so laser focused on abortion, and former President Donald Trump would be packing his bags.
That’s not what I heard at all. First, there is no groundswell for Harris just because she is a female or because of her favorable stance on abortion rights.This is not a unifying issue for women. Likewise, women feel mixed about their standing in America today.
A Suffolk University poll of likely Pennsylvania voters conducted earlier this month corroborates what I heard.According to the poll, 47% of women say they are better off than they were four years ago.
But 50% of women say they are worse off or no different than they were four years ago.So as far as the female independent vote is concerned, it’s still a toss-up. Second, what I heard resoundingly from women along the bus tour is they resent that the government and those in political power do not honor their role as the COO in their households.
Women fought for decades for the right to vote, for equal treatment in society and a place in the working world.But more than any other time in history, the government now represents “the new patriarchy.” W...