Progressive warns gender gap is bad omen for GOP in 2020

Progressive Navin Nayak predicted a gender gap seen among voters in midterm polls will play out on Tuesday with big gains for Democrats from female voters, and warned that it is a dangerous omen for Republicans ahead of the next presidential race.

“We’re going to see the largest gender gap is what I would predict next Tuesday that we’ve ever seen in a midterm election — that doesn’t have to do with Republicans on the Hill, that has to do with Donald Trump and I think it’s a pretty big omen going into 2020,” Nayak told Hill.TV “Rising” co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on Friday.

Nayak, who is the senior vice president for the Center for American Progress, said President Trump has helped spur a grass-roots energy among Democratic women, citing the Grab ‘Em by the Ballot campaign as a prime example.

The initiative seeks to drive voter registration, particularly among young and minority voters. It recently featured a controversial new photo series featuring several women standing nude, holding only a ballot to cover their private parts.

“I think that since Donald Trump got inaugurated, I think you’ve seen women in any shape or form express how displeased they are, how frustrated they are with the president, the lack of respect that he shows to women — I think this is just another example of it, and I think it’s going to be a big part of the story next Tuesday night,” Nayak said.

The difference between male and female voters is expected to be even wider in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to several polls conducted over the past few months.

Nearly two-thirds of female voters said they were more likely to vote for Democrats this November, according to a CNN poll conducted in October. More than 60 percent of women said they were voting for a Democratic candidate, compared to thirty-three percent of those who said they’re more likely to support a Republican candidate. 

Men in the poll said they were more likely to vote for Republican candidates, by a much more narrow 50 to 45 percent margin.

A spike in voter enthusiasm, especially among Democratic women, may be a contributing factor to this prospective gender gap.

Seventy-eight percent of Democratic women reported themselves as “very motivated” to vote in the November’s elections, compared to 65 percent of their Republican counterparts, according to a recent Politico–Morning Consult poll. Seventy-two percent of Democratic and Republican men said the same. 

So far, more than 24 million people have cast their ballot in early voting, with women making up more than 50 percent of voters in states like Texas and Florida. 

— Tess Bonn