Politics November 9, 2016
For months, political pundits had predicted that Donald Trump’s history of mistreating women, after the leak of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which the president-elect said he grabs women by the genitals, would ostracize the female vote and effectively end his bid for presidency. However, election day proved that prediction to be very wrong. On the contrary, Trump won the presidency in large part due to the votes of white non-college educated women in his Republican constituency.
Though polls and pundits claimed Hillary Clinton had the majority support of female voters, as it turned out, Trump won with white women 53 to 43 percent. Within the GOP itself, an overwhelming 91 percent of women cast their ballots for Trump. While the tapes and subsequent allegations of sexual assault on the part of Trump did negatively impact his campaign, his popularity only took a temporary dip, as evidenced by his stunning election win on November 8th.
It wasn’t with the votes of white Republican women alone that landed Trump the keys to the White House: 4 percent of black women and 26 percent of Latina women also voted for the President-elect. If the women who voted for Trump were able to overlook his “locker room talk” and elect him President, what was it they saw in the Republican candidate.
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Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has been known as the candidate without a teleprompter, who speaks him mind and doesn’t adhere to political correctness. When the Donald Trump tapes were released, most women (and Americans in general) agreed that his candor and admission of predatory behavior was unacceptable. After a short time, white Republican women accepted Trumps comments as being normal (if not reprehensible) male behavior, and reasoned that this is what you get when you want an anti-establishment candidate who isn’t afraid to show his true colors.
In a New York Magazine interview with women who chose to vote for Donald Trump in the battleground states of Iowa and New Hampshire, it seems that Trump sold Republican woman on being the candidate of authenticity. Clinton, on the other hand, has long been criticized for being hard to relate to because of her polished preparedness; in this election, abrasive unpreparedness won out.
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What is clear is that women, both those who voted for Hillary and those who voted for Trump, are frustrated with the state of the nation. The women who supported Trump, did so largely in spite of his attitude toward women and not in favor of it. What brought them to the voting booths was the promise of enacting more stringent immigration policies, strengthening the economy, defeating domestic terrorism and, often times, supporting a pro-life platform; all policies Trump has promised to reform.
Where 43 percent of women saw Clinton as a beacon of hope and progress, 53 percent also saw the same in Donald Trump. While Clinton took the popular vote, she has since conceded the presidency to Donald Trump after he gained 290 electoral votes.
Now that this polarizing election is over, we would all do well to remember that while we may have very different views, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, what no one is entitled to is a disrespectful attitude. Trump has offended and demeaned women throughout the duration of his campaign, and those women are entitled to feel angry toward him. At the same time, there are women who were not fazed by Trump’s derogatory language . One went so far as to respond to the tapes by condoning Trumps behavior: “I think that’d be great. I like getting groped!”
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Instead of tearing each other down for our opposing opinions, we ought to embrace our freedom to live the lifestyles we choose and allow each other the same freedom, to celebrate how far we’ve come as women, and to lift each other up every single day, because only together can we accomplish great things.
With so much at stake on all fronts, it’s more important than ever for us as women and Americans to bridge our divides and continue down the path of positive and meaningful change.
