Has Trump really lost the female vote?

Throughout this election the media has used all of Trump’s demeaning rhetoric to shape his narrative. However, over the past few days Trump has engaged in silence to prevent further upset with potential female voters.

Silence is Golden

Since his “nasty women” comment, Trump has made a large effort to transform his rhetoric from denial to what he considers to be the real issues. By the end of October Trump adopted the strategy to ignore the allegations and focus on the issues he knows best such as jobs and the economy. Initially I felt that this was a poor strategy and felt that a large majority of America wouldn’t see this as a campaign strategy, but rather a “dismissive attitude towards the concerns of women” (Adamczyk). I personally feel that this is just a diversion tactic to take the focus off of Trump and his demeaning rhetoric used towards women. However, the longer I thought, I began to realize that this was a smart strategy for Trump because he doesn’t do well when he goes off script.

Is there proof?

According to an article published by The Daily Caller News Foundation on November 7th, Trump has made a rather large gain in the polls with female voters (Stucky). In fact the author claims that Trump now has a two point lead over Clinton which is primarily due to his “increasing support from women voters.” According to Investor’s Business Daily IBD tracking poll sh poll5-gender-110116-640x360 ows that Trump’s crude language and actions involving women appear to not have hurt his standing against Clinton. The poll shows that 39% of women have announced their support for Trump, which is the same percentage of su
pport Mitt Romney received in 2012 from women voters.

However, there are still many polls that predict that Trump has in fact lost the educated women vote (Purcell). Nonetheless, the real question of whether or not Trump has greatly lost the female vote will ultimately be seen in the election results.

Now we wait…

At this point it can swing either way. However, I personally believe that the media have used all of Trump’s demeaning comments to shape his narrative. Rhetoric is called into being by the situation and Trumps previous actions have ultimately allowed for this negative narrative to be created. The public often chooses from a small set of stories and this is perfectly seen by how America simply sees Trump as a womanizer. The media and the voters have chosen to remember all the demeaning rhetoric Trump has engaged in. Over the course of this election the media has rightfully persuaded the American women that Trump is a man unworthy of presidency, which I believe will be seen in the election results

The Surprises Continue

Donald Trumps support among the female population has taken a large hit with all the recent October surprises. However, the decline in his support among women is simply a result from his past rhetoric. The most recent example of this is seen in an article published by The Huffingt on Post. Trump’s votes among women will continue to decline with the release of another video clip.

The Video

The clip uploaded to this article is from 2007 and shows Donald Trump once again addressing women in an inappropriate manner. In the clip Trump is seen in front of a large audience where he calls all the women “girls.” Not only does this highlight the lack of respect he has for women, but he takes it a step farther by admitting that he refuses to call them women: “The girls– we’re supposed to call them women, but they’re girls to me — the girls…” (Arthur Delaney). The unprofessional language he uses towards women only furthers to contradict with his recent statement, “Nobody has more respect for women than I do” (Bloomberg Politics)

In the video he also makes a comment in regards to all the beautiful women who surrounded him at the workplace. He highlights the lack of control he has as he states, “girls, get off the stage right now. You’ll get me in trouble” (Arthur Delaney) The recent allegations against him in regards to sexual assault is supported by the rhetoric he uses in this video.

Significance

On its own this clip holds no real significance, however Trump has created a rhetorical situation in which this has a negative impact on his own campaign. Since the release of the “locker room talk” video, Trump has continued to claim he has great respect for women. However, the immature and insensitive rhetoric used in this video only continues to prove that he has zero respect for females

Throughout the past few weeks it has become increasingly evident that the female “tribe” is becoming stronger than ever. In the Political Campaign Communication textbook it stated that people don’t experience things through actions, but rather words. Not every woman in American has made an allegation of sexual assault, nonetheless countless women have supported the victims by withdrawing their vote for Trump. The continual release of videos such as this only increases the unity and opposition of women against Trump.

The Attacks Continue

Donald Trump has been unsuccessful in winning the female vote simply because of his behavior and attitude towards women. Over the course of this election we have heard verbal assaults, claims of sexual assault, and most recently his announcement of financial assault.

His solution for everything.

Trump is a business man at heart so his most recent remarks in regards to suing his accusers is far from a surprise. During a recent visit to Gettysburg, Pa, Trump told his audience that “the women accusing him of sexual assault will be sued after the election” (Los Angeles Times). Despite the well written speech, the good aspects within it were quickly overshadowed by these comments. Not only did he violate the sacred nature of Gettysburg with this comment, but he also continues to push away the female audience. However, the most significant aspect of this situation can be seen in how Secretary Clinton uses Trumps rhetoric for her benefit.

The hero swings in

Through much of this election, Clinton has spent time using Trump’s rhetoric to further her own campaign. Shortly after Trump made this announcement, Clinton quickly told the press that if Trump was elected president, he would spend his time suing women. She ultimately uses Trump’s own words against him in an attempt to further the gap between Trump and his distant female voters. This all allows Clinton to create the narrative that Trump is a bully and he will attack women verbally, sexually, and financially.

The hypocritical nature

In a response to the lewd 2005 video, Trump announced that he had the most respect for women. However, this whole situation continues to prove otherwise. Rather than simply ignoring the allegations, he has gone out of his way to threaten all these women. In fact, many women across the country believe Trump is using this possible lawsuit as a way to conceal the truth and silence the women who have come forward (Temple Taggart). Women all across the country continue to feel threaten by both Trump’s actions and rhetoric allowing us to conclude that very few women will be supporting him this election day. However, with only two weeks until election day, there is very little Trump can do to mend the distant relationship he has created with women.

How to Not Handle An Accusation

There’s not a guide to follow on how to handle being accused of sexual assault, nonetheless Donald Trump is NOT handling it properly. Even if possible Trump voters refuse to believe in the allegations, the rhetoric he uses against the women is extremely off-putting and could ultimately result in more lost votes.

Allegations

Shortly after the last debate where Trump declared to never having sexually assaulted a women a flood of allegations have come to light. According to websites such as MotherJones and Politico, at least 16 women have accused Trump of sexual assault. Most individuals especially politicians engage in the practice of denial when they are accused of such crimes, however Trump is not a typical politician so he handled the situation a bit differently.

Let the name calling begin

Trump did engage in denial as he told multiple media personal that the allegations were simply lies. However, he then continued to insult all the women accusing him. According to abcNEWS Trump has attacked the accusers by calling them “phony” and “horrible.” However, these names have little impact when compared to what Trump stated to a reporter in regards to one of his accusers, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you” (abcnews). Rather than simply denying the allegations and highlighting the respect he has for women, he instead continues to degrade women. Stating such degrading remarks about women only works to hurt the few female voters who remain on his side.

What does this mean

Due to Junkyard journalism these accusations are going to continue to be front page news because every media source is competing for sales. However, Trump reacting to the whole situation in the way that he has only gives the media more power over him. With only 20 days left until election day, Trump is in dier need to appeal to women voters if he wants to win the election. If I was on his campaign team I would highly suggest a final remark that he has never engaged in sexual assault and apologize for the rude comments he has made during the whole process. Nonetheless, as time goes on Trump continues to isolate possible female voters with his rhetoric making it highly unlikely for him to win their vote on election day.

Trump Continues to Isolate Women

Donald Trump continues to isolate potential women voters as he makes excuses rather than simply apologizing. Not only are women across the nation upset with the recent release of Trump’s comments in 2005, but many are also upset with how he handled the situation during the debate.

Is that an apology?!

Before the second debate, Trump released an apology in which he stated, “It was wrong, I was wrong, and I apologize.” However, many people even political leaders believe that his “apology falls short.” People all over the country, especially women feel that Trump’s apology could be best characterized as defiant. The debate would have been the perfect chance for Trump to deliver a real heartfelt apology, but instead he continuously used the same excuse, “it’s locker room talk,” to justify his actions. As we have discussed in class, in order for him to win the election he has to aim his rhetoric towards the moderate female voter. By constantly justifying the words seen in this video as “locker room talk” he continues to distance himself from potential women voters.

What he really said during the debate

If you did watch the debate you probably don’t recall Trump even apologizing for his actions and this is probably because of how sporadic and unemotional his apology was. Trump responds to Cooper, “…this was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it…I apologize to the American people. Certainly I’m not proud of it. But this is locker room talk” (debate transcript/NewYorkTimes) . Instead of simply apologizing for his words, he continues to make excuses then goes on to the subject of ISIS. Not only did he not reply to an emotional question with an emotional answer, but his words also counteracted the previous apology given. All of this ultimately makes him appear insincere, which only helps to further push away any potential female voters.

Can this be reversed?

The real question is can Trump bounce back from this? There have been many instances through the campaign where Trump has said or done unpresidental things, yet maintained his voter base. Even if he maintains his loyal supporters, without the votes of women he has no chance to win this election. One poll released after the video highlights that 63% of voters believe that Trump has NO respect for women. Unless KellyAnne Conway has a few tricks left up her sleeves, it is very unlikely that Trump will get many female votes this November.

sources used:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/11/chris-christie-on-trumps-apology-nr.cnn

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html

www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/transcript-second-debate.html?_r=0

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/poll-trump-video-respect-women-22953

www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/politics/donald-trump-apology.html?_r=0

Attempts to Win Back the Female Vote

Trump’s Campaign Manager to the Rescue

In August it became evident that something had changed in the Donald Trump campaign. Trump shocked people across the nation as he began to appear more presidential than ever before. Trump himself has not changed, but rather his campaign manager. His new manager, Kellyanne Conway has a tough road ahead of her as she tries to help Trump “woo women” voters.

Conway Manages Trump’s Crises

Conway has not been successful in changing Trump’s attitude nor comments towards women, but she has worked to counteract them. The most recent crisis Conway has managed occurred six days after the first presidential debate, where Trump once again isolated possible women voters as he attacked former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado. The campaign tried to counteract his comments with the release of a new ad, “Motherhood,” starring Ivanka Trump. To see the ad click here. The Washington Post describes this latest ad as, “the most overt appeal yet to women voters…”

Trump’s Latest Ad

This ad mainly targets female voters as it shows Ivanka taking on the task of being both a provider and a mother. She uses powerful language such as, “the most important job any woman can have is being a mother, and it shouldn’t mean taking a tax cut,” and “he will provide tax credits for child care, paid maternity leave, and dependent-care savings accounts,”
screen-shot-2016-10-04-at-10-21-10-am to appeal to the women voters. Whether you believe her comments or not, you can’t deny that the adorable children appeal to your emotions. According to Trent and Friedenberg political ads often serve a variety of functions, but I believe that this ads’ main objective is to redefine Trump’s image. This is supported by both the timing of the ad and the rhetoric used within it. Ivanka successfully fulfills her role as a surrogate in this ad, however this one ad can’t undo every sexist comment or action Trump has made. But the creation of this ad is a good first step in appealing to women voters.

sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/30/ivanka-trump-stars-in-new-campaign-ad-to-help-her-father-appeal-to-women/

https://thinkprogress.org/kellyanne-conway-trump-c6b04fba7c12#.6qvsvfk4l

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/09/meet_the_nj_native_whos_running_donald_trumps_camp.html

www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/politics/alicia-machado-donald-trump.html