Trump Respects Women, Most Men Say

Women do not see it that way, and that could matter this fall.

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Attendees at a rally for former President Donald J. Trump in Schnecksville, Pa., this month.

This month, The New York Times/Siena College poll asked voters how much they think former President Trump respects women: a lot, some, not much or not at all?

You’ll never guess what happened next!

A majority of men — 54 percent — said that Trump respects women either “a lot” or “some.” Just 31 percent of women saw things that way.

Trump, a man known for bragging about grabbing women’s private parts — and on trial in connection with the cover-up of a sex scandal involving a porn star — has long symbolized a kind of machismo that to many people reads as misogyny.

But that disparity is important to understand in an election that already seems primed to turn on the question of just how big the gender gap between Trump, who draws more support from men, and President Biden, who leads among women, is going to be. Our poll found that Trump had a 20-percentage-point lead among men, while Biden had a 16-percentage-point lead among women.

“The formula for any Democrat in a close race is to win women by more than they lose men, and frankly, right now we’re behind,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster for Biden’s 2020 campaign. “Having women become as intensely anti-Trump as men are pro-Trump is really, really important.”

The perception of Trump’s respect for women is a rare example of his standing with voters decreasing in recent years. Times polling has found that voters view Trump more positively on issues like his handling of the economy and law and order than they did in 2020.

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