The News
The gender gap has become a defining feature of the US presidential election. Polls show Kamala Harris with a lead among women voters, and Donald Trump leading among men, prompting one pundit to predict it could be a “boys vs girls” election.
With the election just weeks away, both candidates are trying to stem the growing gender divide tide by explicitly targeting voters they are not as strong with.
Trump took questions at a Fox News town hall in front of an all-female audience in Georgia on Wednesday, while Harris ramped up her outreach to Black men, including through an interview on The Breakfast Club radio show. She is also considering an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, whose show is especially popular among young men, Reuters reported.
SIGNALS
Trump tries to soften image with women, a more active voting bloc
Trump’s appeal among young men has been well documented through his embrace of podcasters like Theo Von and influencers like Logan Paul. But getting that bloc out to the polls presents a different challenge, as voting rates for young men tend to be lower than those for young women and older men. So Trump is looking to shore up support among women — specifically white women — a group that has shifted slightly toward Harris. He has deployed a team of female surrogates and recently told a crowd of women, “I will be your protector.” Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping the overturning of Roe v. Wade galvanizes women voters against Trump.
Black men’s shift away from Democrats didn’t start with Harris
Harris issued a slate of policy proposals last week aimed at Black men, a move The Wall Street Journal called a “last minute S.O.S.” Polling shows Harris is underperforming among Black men compared to Democrats’ showings in 2020 and 2016, and some worry her moves are coming too late in the campaign. But the party has been losing support among Black men since 2012, so the trend “predates Kamala Harris,” The New York Times’ Astead Herndon pointed out, even though a strong majority still support the vice president. He also cautioned against the narrative that Black men would be to blame if Harris loses. “We somewhat risk acting like this is a Black man-specific problem, when it’s not.”