US Election: Culture War and Gender Vote Gap

“Donald Trump primarily mobilizes men, while Kamala Harris appeals more to women. Will the gender battle decide the election?” asks ZEIT ONLINE (Z+).

The Gender Vote Gap:

Men and women in the U.S. have been voting differently for decades. In next week’s election, the gap will likely be wider than ever before.

Trump focuses on mobilizing as many men as possible. He practically has the “manosphere”—the testosterone-heavy part of the internet—already in the bag. The stereotype of the American man: aggressive and rugged, wealthy and powerful (at least as the family patriarch), he fishes and eats steak.

The image of women is no less backward-looking—embodied by the women around the candidate: “In Trump’s orbit, everything considered feminine is grotesquely emphasized. Trump women are the living embodiment of Instagram filters, caricatures of traditional femininity. (…) What Trump and his Republicans offer is distinction: the clear assignment and recognition of the two genders. It is the most visible demarcation from the gender discourses of the progressive camp in recent years. It is culture war turned into aesthetics.” Trump’s Christian-conservative vice-presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, additionally represents the restoration of traditional family values: Women are mainly assigned the role of bearing and raising children. The enemy of a “healthy,” child-rich nation is the progressive, female leadership elite—women like Kamala Harris (“childless cat ladies”).

A role model that, according to ZEIT, is not relatable to the broad majority of American society. Since Vance at least knows this, he gives the whole thing a socially conservative gloss: “We are doing something for families.” Even the critical issue of abortion rights is integrated, with the idea: In a child-friendly society, women won’t need to have abortions anymore. The loss of rights and the reduction to their biological functions are sold to women as a protective measure. Trump himself is even presented as the protector of women (as he literally claims).

Kamala Harris advocates for the right to abortion. According to ZEIT, however, she wants to become president without relying on identity politics and avoids emphasizing her role as a woman and as Black. An interesting role is played by her vice-presidential pick: Tim Waltz has become a role model for Democrats, as he shows how masculinity can be in modern America: a man who is comfortable working for a woman—while in his free time he works on cars and goes hunting and fishing. The message is: Men can be both: “real” American guys in the sense of the stereotype that the Trump world propagates. But also fathers, partners, progressives.

In the end, it’s a question of mobilization: Will more men or more women go to the polls?