What Went Wrong For Kamala Harris In Wooing Women Voters?
Washington, DC, US: Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in the 2024 United States presidential election has shown that women’s rights, specifically the right to an abortion, are not as big of an issue for the voters as expected. The 2024 presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade court ruling.
The Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion, however, in 2022, ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation, the Supreme Court overturned the rule and banned abortion, with limited exception. The President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the 2022 verdict, which was made possible by his appointments of three conservative judges to the top court.
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Kamala Harris’ campaign made much of Trump’s stance on reproductive rights as a bid to woo female voters, particularly in the swing states. However, early national exit polls showed that Harris had won the support of 54 percent of women, lower than President Joe Biden did in 2020 when he had the support of 57 percent.
Overturning Roe v. Wade has been one of the successful key promises Trump has made in his 2016 election campaign.
In the wide protests that erupted after the overturning, Democrats expected the issue to be looming large, and Harris moulded most of her campaign around the issue.
One of the Harris campaigns was titled ‘Punishment,’ referring to the statement by Trump before the 2016 election where he allegedly suggested that women who try to get an abortion should be punished. At the same time, in 2016, Trump clarified that any punishment would be for doctors performing the procedure and not women undergoing it.
Harris stated that Trump would “force states to monitor women’s pregnancies.” She urged listeners to “Google Project 2025 and read the plans for yourself,” referring to a conservative policy blueprint assembled by some of Trump’s supporters but which Trump has distanced himself from.
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Republicans have been vocal about banning abortion. But at the same time, she still could not win the US women’s support.
CNN exit poll showed that Harris has won women voters’ support by 10 percent over Trump. However, she won less than Joe Biden in 2020, who won 15 percent of women’s votes, and Hilary Clinton, who won 13 percent of women’s votes.
As per a survey on female voters conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the top issue that mattered to the women population was the inflation, including the rising household expenses. The survey published on October 11 stated that more than 36 percent of the respondents cited inflation as the major problem.
Inflation was followed by threats to democracy, which 24 percent of respondents cited, and immigration and border security, which 13 percent of women cited. Another 13 percent also cited abortion as the most important issue.
According to a national exit poll conducted by data provider Edison Research, 31 percent of voters said the economy mattered most in influencing their decision to vote, and 14 percent cited abortion.
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While Harris won 92 percent of Black women’s votes, she went low in Democrats votes from Latina women. Harris won 61 percent of their votes this election, 22 percentage points above Trump. But it was lower than the 39-point lead Biden had over Trump with Latina women in 2020.
Apparently, what went wrong for Harris was that she focused too much on abortion rather than other salient issues, such as economic policies, that would appeal to working-class voters, including women. And Trump was better at persuading the working-class and middle-class voters that he is better at handling the economy.
(With inputs from agencies)
