President Trump said he will do better among women in 2020 but a new poll indicates female voters may desert him, backing Joe Biden by 31 points, while Trump runs even with his potential Democratic challenger among men.
The almost 2-to-1 advantage for Biden has Trump taking just 33% of votes from women with Biden at 64%, according to the new ABC News-Washington Post poll. By contrast, 2016 exit polls showed Trump with 41% female support.
The results are likely to be viewed skeptically by Trump and his supporters. The president has attacked polls that show him performing poorly as “fake.” And in this case, the results — showing him down 56% to 39% to Biden among all voters — are an outlier from polls showing Biden with a narrower lead.
“Anytime you get a poll, you can add 10 points or 7 points or 6 points,” Trump said in September.
Trump won the election in 2016 with 52% support among men.
One month before Trump’s surprise win, the Washington Post published audio of Trump making lewd remarks about touching women without their consent in what many Republicans viewed as an insurmountable blow to his candidacy.
This year, Trump said his standing would improve among women, pointing to a strong economy.
“I think we’re going to do better with women now, because you know what? I produced — because women filled more than 60% of all new jobs created last year,” Trump said at a Michigan rally in March.
Similar to Trump, Biden has clear vulnerabilities among women voters. Biden was accused of “sexist” treatment of sexual harassment accuser Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas’s 1991 confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court, and he has been criticized for being inappropriately touchy-feely with women in public settings.
Cross-tabs were not published from the new poll that would show support by gender for other Democratic candidates, but the Washington Post reported all other Democrats topped 59% female support.
The national poll found Biden leading his Democratic rivals among respondents who lean Democrat, despite his standing taking a hit in other recent polls as Trump accuses Biden and his son of corruption in Ukraine. Among Democratic-leaning voters, Biden had 27% support in the primary, trailed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 21%, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 19%.
The only other candidate to top 2% support was South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who took 7%.
