How Gender Redefined the 2024 Election

Meanwhile, Democrats have hammered Vance on his previous comments opposing abortion access. In 2021, he defended the lack of exceptions for incest and rape in a Texas abortion ban, saying that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Vance has also voted against legislation that would expand access to in vitro fertilization, and his office recently broke off bipartisan negotiations to make childbirth more affordable, The Washington Post reported.

Still, Harris is not guaranteed universal support from women. White women supported Trump by a narrow margin in 2016, and their support for him increased in 2020. Some Harris supporters are hoping to minimize that gap in 2024 and specifically to mobilize white women; a Zoom rally last week titled “White Women: Answer the Call” had roughly 200,000 participants and raised millions of dollars. Similar Zoom events in support of Harris by the groups Win With Black Women and Win With Black Men have ginned up enthusiasm—and money. Being a woman of color may excite potential supporters enough to counteract opposition based on her race and gender.

“Harris’s race and gender are actually an advantage for the first time in presidential politics,” said Tresa Undem, a partner in and co-founder of PerryUndem, a public opinion research firm that has conducted polling on women’s election turnout. “I don’t think magically we’re going to get a big majority of white women suddenly voting for Harris, or for Democrats. But I think a change by a few percentage points can make a change in an election.”