Will Men Vote for Kamala Harris? Polls Paint Bleak Picture for Democrats

Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling to garner support among male voters, according to polling data.

A new poll, conducted by the Economist and YouGov between July 21 and 23, showed that only 39 percent of men said they would vote for Harris, while 47 percent said they would vote for former President Donald Trump. The poll surveyed 1,435 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Another poll conducted by Emerson College between July 22 and 23 had a similar result, with male voters in most of the swing states opting for Trump over Harris. Trump had the biggest lead over Harris among male voters in Michigan, where he was 16 points ahead, 54 to 38. His lead in Pennsylvania was slightly smaller, with 55 percent of male voters supporting him for a 15-point advantage.

In Arizona and Wisconsin, Trump was 13 points ahead, while in Georgia he led by 10. The poll surveyed between 800 and 845 people in each state and had a margin of error of 3 percent.

In the latest poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College between July 22 and 24, 37 percent of men said they would vote for Harris, while 56 percent said they would vote for Trump.

Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for comment via email.

The results come after Democrats made gains among men in the 2020 election, with only a 2-point gap between Trump and President Joe Biden (50 percent to 48 percent). That was up from 2016, when Trump won men by 11 points (52 percent to 41 percent).

Male voters have historically favored Republican candidates, while women tend to favor Democrats, with a gender gap being apparent in every presidential election since 1980,according to the Center for American Women and Politics, which analyzes historical election data.

Carrie Baker, a professor of women, gender and sexuality at Smith College in Massachusetts, told Newsweek that in order to capture the male vote, Democrats “need to develop messaging targeting men that focuses on the policy issues, not on Harris as the first female president.”

Harris, the first woman to be vice president in U.S. history, would be the first female U.S. president in history.

According to a recent study by the Young Men’s Research Initiative conducted from July 9 to 23, men aged 18-29 were more likely to be supportive of female candidates over Trump when presented with their policies, including support for high-paying jobs and affordable housing, rather than when they were presented with arguments centered around the importance of having the first female president. The study surveyed 1,092 men in that age group.

“The trend of young men drifting away from Democrats, and their increasing sexism, should be of huge concern to candidates up and down the ticket,” the Young Men’s Research Initiative study’s author wrote. “But we can’t give up on half of a generation that will be able to vote for another 50 years. This research shows that we can make inroads by changing how we talk about Democratic issues that young men already support. We should be using targeted messaging to reach them.”

Harris’ campaign messaging has sought to highlight her record as a prosecutor compared to Trump’s criminal charges. References to Harris as the potential first female president is U.S. history have been fairly infrequent.

Dr. Jonathan Parker, senior lecturer in U.S. Politics at Keele University in the U.K., told Newsweek that there is “no question” Harris will still “face opposition from some people because of her sex and because of her race.”

“That was one of the key reasons for nominating Biden in 2020,” he said.

However, Baker added that she is confident America is “ready for Harris and what she offers in terms of policies that really help people.”

The Economist/YouGov poll showed that 25 percent of men answered “no” when asked if they hope to see the U.S. elect its first female president. That is compared to 23 percent of female voters polled who answered “no.”