As a gender gap splits U.S. voters, Kamala Harris opts not to play the woman card
Female voters, politicians tell Democratic candidate not to take anything for granted
During one of the Democratic National Convention's most popular events, Seinfeld and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus led a discussion with the party's eight female governors about being women in politics, breaking the glass ceiling and Kamala Harris's presidential campaign.
Louis-Dreyfus asked the women if they had any advice for Harris, who, if elected on Nov. 5, would make history in the United States as the first female president, the first Black female president and the first South Asian president. One governor said that Harris wouldn't need their advice; another said that she should just be herself.
But it was Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs who advised Harris not to take anything for granted: "There's still a lot of work ahead of us. We have not won, and we have to fight for every single vote."
With Harris having taken a deep lead among women since becoming the Democratic nominee, polling experts have called the 2024 presidential race one of the most gendered elections in history.
But the vice-president has hardly mentioned the historic nature of her candidacy — in contrast with Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, which leaned heavily on the fact that she would have been the first female president.
During that election, some voters were apprehensive of Clinton, the former secretary of state, on account of her being a woman. A recent CBS News poll found that the gender gap during the 2024 election is issue-based: People who felt that efforts to promote gender equality had gone overboard were mostly men and mostly Donald Trump voters, while those who felt that the country hasn't gone far enough to promote gender equality were mostly female and mostly voting for Harris.
Likewise, people who believed that abortion should be legal were overwhelmingly siding with Harris (76 per cent in favour, 21 per cent against), while the inverse was true for voters backing Trump, the Republican nominee — with 23 per cent thinking abortion should be legal and 78 per cent thinking it should be illegal.
Diverging from Clinton on gender
Clinton herself cast part of the blame for her own election loss on female voters who, according to a report in the New York Times, abandoned her during the final days of her campaign because she wasn't "perfect."
Harris has taken a different approach, focusing less on the historic circumstances of her candidacy, whereas Clinton, whose campaign slogan was "I'm With Her," leaned into that messaging.
Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has emphasized that. "She happens to be a woman, and that's icing on the cake," she said of Harris during an interview this month with MSNBC. "But the fact is she's the strongest and the best, and that's why she is in the position that she is in."
During an election in which a large number of Democratic voters believe reproductive rights are at stake, a handful of those attending the convention said they were motivated to get into politics by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, which overruled the court's 1973 landmark abortion ruling in Roe v. Wade.
Dr. Emily Walters, a convention delegate and anesthesiologist from Pittsburg, Kan., is one of those voters. Citing Harris's background prosecuting sexual predators, she said, "I can think of no better champion for what women are worried about right now."
As for whether she's concerned that Harris will take a hit at the polls by voters who are uncomfortable with the idea of a female president, "100 per cent," said Walters, chair of Crawford County Democrats in Kansas.
"We have an image of what it means to be a leader or what it means to be presidential," she said.
"That falls back on us, on women, on all of us who are active to bridge that gap for her. And to change the world to make it [so that] future possible presidents can look back and say, 'Oh, I do look like that. And now I can run.'"
'Polls don't vote. People do'
Suzan LeVine, a former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, told CBC News that "it's not Kamala being the first woman, it's Kamala being a great president."
"And not having gender as a part of it, but having the policy, having the vision and being able to move forward on that front," she said. But she added that there are some lessons to be gleaned from Hillary Clinton's 2016 run.
"Unfortunately there were other forces at play that we didn't even see or anticipate," LeVine said, pointing to a Russian disinformation campaign that discredited Clinton on gender issues.
However, she said, "I think a key lesson is to not take any vote or voter or moment for granted. I can't tell you how many people said to me, 'Oh, there's no way Hillary can lose. She's got it in the bag.' And the polls had her up ahead. But polls don't vote. People do."
Clinton, speaking during the Democratic convention in Chicago earlier this week, kept the focus on Harris but briefly referred to that shocking 2016 loss: "The story of my life and the history of our country is that progress is possible but not guaranteed," she said.
Making Harris more 'likable'
Walters, the delegate from Kansas, who supported Clinton eight years ago, said she believes that the Harris campaign has gleaned certain lessons from that failed run.
"If you look at the criticisms that were levied against [Clinton], things like not being likable, not being warm or approachable, it is a difficult needle to thread for women in leadership positions," she said.
"And I do think that the campaign has put some effort into making [Harris] more likable."
Back at the panel chaired by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the actor asked whether there were any advantages to being a female candidate. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was quick to answer.
"There are unique hurdles, there are unique barriers, there are a lot of different ways that we are treated compared to male candidates. But I would also say that it is a huge advantage to be underestimated," she said.
"I think that is a huge advantage — to come in, where people write us off and don't expect us to be as deep on issues or as thoughtful in articulating the vision or as tough," Whitmer said. "I would much rather be underestimated than overestimated."
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