Trump’s pitch to women on coronavirus recovery: ‘We’re getting your husbands back to work’

In an appeal to female voters one week before Election Day, President Trump promised to get “husbands back to work” as part of economic recovery efforts directed toward states rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Your husbands, they want to get back to work,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Lansing, Mich., on Tuesday. “We’re getting your husbands back to work. And everybody wants it.”

Trump: We’re getting your husbands back to work pic.twitter.com/MOHh0d1Vu7

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 27, 2020

Most polls show Trump lagging with women behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden, particularly in suburban areas — a voting bloc largely responsible for the so-called blue wave that helped Democrats regain control of the House in 2018.

A survey in September found suburban women cited Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus as a key reason they plan to vote against him in this year’s presidential contest.

The Trump campaign is betting that a law and order messaging blitz will help the president’s popularity among women in purple districts such as Oakland and Kent counties.

During a rally last month, Trump joked about his lagging poll numbers with women, who were among the blocs that helped him win the White House in 2016.

“Suburban women, will you please like me?” Trump said. “I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?”

In August, the Detroit News reported the state had recovered more than half the jobs it lost during the pandemic. By late April, Michigan reported 1.2 million jobless claims since March 15, when the pandemic shut down most of the country, according to Crain’s Business Detroit.

Trump has attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for keeping her state “locked down” for what he and other Republicans have said is too long of a period of time. The state, like many others across the country, has reported a spike of coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

Michigan is seen as a battleground state in the final days leading to the election. Trump won the state narrowly in 2016. Whitmer was elected during a Democratic wave in 2018.