A passionate Hillary Clinton supporter posted “Female Trump Supporters Don’t Really Care About His Sexism” to his Facebook status with some re-posted additions from a like-minded friend. Here was some of the stuff that his friend had added and with which my friend was apparently agreeing:
Sandy: They are Evangelical Christians who do not believe that they are worth anything more than what a man tells them they are. Religion is why there are so many women who follow and not lead in church. They are indoctrinated into believing that a woman is never to lead a man.
Patsy: Speaking as someone raised in the South-They are used to a loud mouth bigot alpha male to run their families and thought process for them and so they respond very well to Trump….he is Tennessee Williams “Big Daddy” for many of the Trumpettes.
Denise: Until he walks the gauntlet next to them and personally deconstructs their looks….You’re too fat, You look too old, You’re not tall enough, You’re too flat-chested……then watch them change their minds when it becomes personal. For the dumb ones…that’s what it takes.
I questioned whether he, a persistently vocal male feminist, hadn’t just posted an article “asserting, essentially, that millions of American women are too stupid to perceive their self-interest.” The ensuing exchange:
Him: Not quite the way I would word it. I’d say that too many women are raised in a misogynistic culture that undermines their egos and their potential, and knowing nothing else, never have the opportunity to appreciate or grow into their best selves. I am absolutely NOT insulting their intelligence or their choices.
Me: Perhaps they need a man like yourself to guide them then? Show them how to think and vote?
His friend:I think you’re twisting the logic – [He] said it best – not growing up in an environment that allows them to achieve their full potential as people/citizens/workers. It’s blatantly obvious in countries with strict religious doctrines that subordinate women – just not as severe with evangelicals here.
Background on this Trump-hating Clinton supporter: he works for the federal government in a job that requires U.S. citizenship and a tech PhD, so his job is safe from both immigrants (no citizenship) and children of the next batch of immigrants (will not reach PhD age before he retires).
Related:
- the Feminism section within the Rationale chapter of Real World Divorce, with university professors explaining how a woman withdrawing from the labor market and living off child support profits is a recognizably “feminist” goal
Among female voters, the polls so far indicate that Clinton is leading Trump by 20 points. Since women make up more than half the electorate, it’s pretty hard to make up that kind of deficit.
As to why some women are still voting for Trump, every individual has their own view of what’s most important and what’s less important. Still, the Access Hollywood tape where Trump talks about groping women, and the many stories confirming it, have definitely reduced his support, especially among women — just as you’d expect.
I am still amazed at arguments that come down to “I know better than that guy what is good for that guy.”
Russil: If it was a recent tape (I would disagree that Trump “talks about groping women,” by the way; I would say that he talks about taking a specific woman furniture shopping and then uses some hypothetical hyperbole regarding what women who hang around TV stars will accept), why does a spring 2015 poll show that “women lean Democratic by 52%-36%” (see http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/ )? The needle has apparently scarcely moved since then.
There are also women that volunteer to join ISIS. What does that prove, apart from the fact males don’t have a monopoly on stupidity?
Philip: There’s actually been a lot of movement in the polls this year, unlike in 2012. It’s been an action-packed campaign!
There are reasons why a woman who finds Trump’s comments on that tape terrible and unacceptable might nonetheless support him for President. For example, if one believes that sexual harassment is a common male behavior and one doesn’t believe that all politicians should be female, one could decide that statements/behavior like Trump’s alone shouldn’t be used to disqualify male politicians. Certainly, if one believes that Hillary Clinton is secretly meeting with international bankers to destroy U.S. sovereignty, it might make sense to overlook personal bad behavior in her opposition. After all, a woman who votes for Trump is not really at risk of having any part of her body grabbed by him, but will certainly feel at least some effects from the policies of whoever is elected President. Perhaps the reasons proffered in the quotes explain some of the support for Trump among women, but I doubt that they tell the full story.
I can’t believe we have come to this; speculating on the fine points of a B-list celeb to be POTUS.
The next POTUS will probably confirm the lesson from the incumbent: we don’t really need a President, but it would be nice to have one someday.
On to 2020!
Maybe Hillary could offer us some insight into how a woman could possibly support a man who is a known serial sexual harrasser.
Trump is playing a curious game here. He knows he’s going to get badly beaten, yet he and the Fox News types are selling this story that he’s the popular favorite who is going to have the election stolen by corrupt precinct officials. Many of his vocal supporters seem to truly believe this.
So what happens after the election? If 30% of American voters believe that the election was rigged, preposterous as that is, what happens? Presumably something very bad.
Trump’s doing better than 30% of the electorate right now. He’s also running closely with white women. Ties, is ahead or otherwise within margin of error, even with college-educated white women. He does lose badly among not-white women, but they aren’t a majority of female voters.
Fox News is not selling the story that Trump is a popular favorite. This is completely untrue. The corrupt precinct officer thing is mostly untrue as well. But great spin-job.
Raleigh – We’ve seen this before. The democrats told us that the 2000 election was stolen and a high percentage of Americans believe it. We survived that.
A high percentage of Bernie Sanders supporters believe that the primaries were rigged against Bernie.
I agree that Trump is doing better than 30%. But many Trump voters are perceptive enough to know that there is no vast left wing conspiracy to corrupt the ballot count in swing states. So I went with 30% who are not perceptive enough to know that. That was a wild guess. Maybe it’s 5%.
Fox News types are definitely selling the story that Trump is going to win. I hear it on talk radio every day, although it is getting pushed farther and farther to the fringe. I have friends who actually believe it. As far as Fox News itself, as opposed to Fox News types, this is from mediaite.com:
“At least some Fox News hosts cited the unscientific polls showing Trump winning, rather than the scientific polls showing the opposite. Trump even specifically thanked the hosts of Fox & Friends for doing so.”
I would tend to agree that the Democrat Party gave Bernie very rough and undemocratic treatment. I would even agree that the party’s system is rigged in favor of an establishment candidate. But I haven’t heard a serious claim that the primary vote was rigged.
Translation: Women who disagree with us do so because they are dumb. But it’s not their fault they’re dumb, because we wouldn’t want to call women dumb and really mean it, so we’ll say they were just brainwashed by an unfortunate misogynistic culture.
If you don’t agree with us you’re dumb. And sexist. Even if you’re a dumb woman.