Trump rhetoric widens gender gap among voters: GOP pollster

Republican pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz weighed in on the gender divide among voters in the presidential race, arguing that former President Donald Trump is “actively going out of his way” to widen it.

CNN anchor Michael Smerconish showed a Fox News poll showing a 22-point gender gap — men favor Trump by 12 percentage points, and women prefer Vice President Kamala Harris by 10 — during a segment on the network Saturday.

“The problem is that Kamala Harris reminds men of their first wife and Donald Trump reminds women of their first husband’s divorce lawyer, and it’s actually kind of true,” Luntz said. “I know it’s funny, but it’s kind of true.”

Luntz went further, saying he believes “there are actually going to be divorces” because of the unprecedented nature of what he called a gender “chasm.” He also offered three pieces of advice for Trump on the campaign trail with about 2 1/2 months until Election Day.

“First, don’t insult your opponent for how they look, how they speak,” Luntz said. “Women can’t stand that.”

Later in the day, at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump rejected a suggestion he said he received that Harris has an advantage in the race because “she’s a very beautiful woman.”

“I say that I am much better-looking than her, I think I’m much better, much better,” Trump said. “I’m a better-looking person than Kamala.”

Luntz also alluded to Trump’s tendency to dwell on his 2020 election defeat, which he often encourages supporters to avoid a repeat of by voting in numbers that make it “too big to rig.”

“Second, they expect you to focus on the future, not on anger about the past, and that’s, again, the exact opposite of what Trump is actually doing,” Luntz said.

“Third, particularly now, we’ve had arguably eight years of this rough-and-tumble kind of politics,” Luntz said. “The economy has been challenging, inflation has clearly made lives more difficult for so many people, and you want to lean into that. You acknowledge it, you show people a solution, you give them ideas for how they can change it.”

At a Friday event in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harris outlined a plan to lower costs for households over the next four years in her first policy-focused speech since she became the Democratic nominee.

​​“That’s exactly what Harris did yesterday,” Luntz said. “You may disagree with what she’s saying, but at least she’s addressing it.”

Smerconish also showed New York Times/Siena College polling data indicating the gender gap is more pronounced in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, three states that have served as bellwethers over the past four cycles. The margin grew to 32 points in the so-called “blue wall” states, with women favoring Harris by 17 points and a 15-point lead among men for Trump.

“No one’s seeing the campaign except for those three states and four others,” Luntz said, highlighting the importance of the dollars being spent on advertising in rallies in swing states. The same poll, released Aug. 10, showed Harris leading Pennsylvania and Wisconsin overall by 3 and 4 percentage points, respectively, while Trump led Michigan by 3 points.