As women surpass men in early turnout, Trump’s challenge in winning over female voters becomes more apparent

() – When Alex Cooper, the popular host of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, posted her much-discussed interview with Democrat Kamala Harris last month, she revealed that she had also invited the vice president’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, to appear on her show.

“If he, too, wants to have a deep, meaningful conversation about women’s rights in this country, then he’s welcome on ‘Call Her Daddy’ anytime,” Cooper told his millions of mostly female listeners.

The Trump campaign had received an offer to participate in the program, according to sources close to the former president, but ultimately decided to reject it. Instead, Trump doubled down on his strategy of directly addressing young Americans through appearances on right-leaning, male-dominated online shows. She will end her campaign this Tuesday having largely avoided podcasts, YouTube channels and daytime television shows geared toward female audiences.

And if Trump’s third bid for the White House is unsuccessful, his approach to winning over women — who outnumber men and are more reliable voters — could be one of the most scrutinized strategies of his campaign. Trump’s advisers and allies argued throughout the late summer and fall that his appeal among men would make up for his lack of support among women, but in recent weeks, the widening gender gap has caused alarm among some Republicans.

“We’ve seen a problem with women for all Republicans, on all ballots,” a Trump-aligned GOP operative told . “Start from the top.”

Trump’s uncertainty about how to appeal to women has been evident even in the final days of his campaign, leading to public disagreements with his staff over his message. At a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, he recalled the advice of his advisors who urged him to stop repeatedly promising to be the “protector” of women, as they believed it was inappropriate.

“’Sir, please don’t say that,’” he said he was advised. “Because? I am president. I want to protect the women of our country. Well, I’m going to do it, whether you like it or not. “I’m going to protect you,” Trump told the crowd.

Harris’ campaign quickly seized on those comments, combining the clip with Trump’s anti-abortion remarks into a video that reached more than 2.4 million views on X. Harris later highlighted the comments during a brief, rare press conference and at a rally in Reno, Nevada, where she said Trump “simply does not respect women’s freedom or women’s intelligence to make decisions about their own lives.”

His campaign also criticized Trump for stating Thursday that former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would work on “women’s health” in a second Trump administration.

In private conversations with close allies, Trump asks why women don’t like him, three sources familiar with those conversations said.

“He believes women want someone who will keep them safe. Let him keep his children safe,” said one of the sources.

In North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump asked women in his audience if they wanted him to protect them. He seemed pleased with the cheers he received.

But beyond his rallies, women do not seem to be responding to the former president’s attempts to reach them. The latest ABC News/Ipsos national poll showed Trump trailing Harris among likely female voters by 14 points, a gap that far exceeds his 6-point lead among men.

Additionally, Trump faces a gender gap in early voting. In the seven most contested states, women have cast 55% of the votes so far, while men account for 45%, according to Catalist, a Democratic-aligned data firm. This 10-point disparity, representing almost 1.4 million votes, although slightly smaller than four years ago, worries Trump’s allies.

“Early voting has been disproportionately female,” Charlie Kirk, president of Turning Point Action, a conservative group responsible for much of Trump’s grassroots strategy, posted on X. “If men stay home, Kamala is president . It’s that simple.”

In a statement to , Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Harris “may be the first female vice president, but she has implemented dangerously progressive policies that have left women worse off financially and far less secure than they otherwise would be.” that they were four years ago under President Trump.”

“Women deserve a president who will secure our nation’s borders, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and build an economy that helps our families thrive, and that’s exactly what President Trump will do,” Leavitt said.

For a time, the Trump campaign hoped to win over women on key issues, specifically the economy, crime and Trump’s promise to prevent transgender women from competing in women’s sports. However, the race for women’s votes became complicated with Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate, motivating female voters and leaving Trump searching for a new approach.

In the last two weeks, the campaign has organized a tour for women, with several prominent allies. These events will continue throughout the weekend with popular Trump supporters including Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former race car driver Danica Patrick. At a recent Fox News town hall with an all-female audience — an obvious attempt to address concerns — Trump called himself the “father” of in vitro fertilization, a claim that Democrats have widely ridiculed.

Trump’s campaign and his Republican supporters tried to go on the offensive Thursday, seizing on comments from businessman Mark Cuban, a leading supporter of Harris, who said on ABC’s “The View” that the former president avoids “strong and intelligent” women. . Republican lawmakers and Trump’s female staff, including his campaign manager Susie Wiles, rejected the comments on social media.

Trump has also relied on other white men to reach female voters. Aides were hoping for a boost with the backing of Kennedy, who has been campaigning for Trump and is expected to be with the former president all day Friday. The hope was that Kennedy could reach a subset of women, particularly mothers who were health-conscious and distrustful of the government and the medical industry. Women were more likely to support Kennedy than men, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, although other surveys have not shown a significant difference.

Trump’s challenges with female voters date back to his first term, when college-educated women began to drift away from him, boosting the Democratic advantage in the House in the 2018 midterm elections. The reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022, a decision Trump celebrated at the time, has only deepened women’s resistance to his platform. He has attempted to moderate his stance — taking credit for the court’s decision while distancing himself from the state’s strict abortion laws that followed that decision — but polls have not shown it to be effective. His choice of Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who once said abortion should be “illegal nationwide,” as his running mate has only kept the issue in the spotlight.

Trump’s inability to balance the country’s deep division proved unsustainable this summer. Forced to take sides on a ballot measure to expand abortion access in his home state of Florida, Trump initially suggested he supported it. The reaction from the right was swift and severe. Leading figures in the anti-abortion movement threatened to withdraw their support for Trump and gave permission for others to do the same.

At the risk of losing the support of the women in his base, Trump backed down. He clarified that he intended to vote against Florida’s amendment, effectively aligning himself with the state’s six-week abortion ban. The episode gave Democrats new impetus for one of their most effective fundraising and mobilization messages against the former president.

An appearance on “Call Her Daddy” might not have solved Trump’s long-standing challenge with female voters. But her decision to avoid such platforms has left Harris with a remarkable opportunity.

During her appearance on the podcast, she warned listeners about the potential rollback of rights in a second Trump term, saying: “The fight for reproductive freedom is, at its core, about the basic right that any individual has to make decisions.” on his own body.”

Leavitt did not respond when asked why Trump did not accept the invitation to “Call Her Daddy.” Representatives for Cooper, the podcast host, did not respond to ‘s request for comment.

Trump, meanwhile, has gone in a very different direction, staying confined to a similar universe of online pranksters and “bro” culture influencers: the Canadian pranksters known as the Nelk Boys, comedians Theo Vonn and Andrew Schulz, wrestler Mark Calaway, aka The Undertaker, YouTube star-turned-boxer Logan Paul, LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau, former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, and video game streamer Adin Ross.

The culminating appearance of his podcast tour came in October when Trump sat down for a three-hour interview with comedian and actor Joe Rogan, host of one of the most popular shows on the internet.

The appearance delivered the desired result for the Trump campaign: a lengthy appearance before Rogan’s enormous audience, and Harris has faced pressure to also join Rogan’s show in Austin. Rogan recently revealed that his team had discussed the idea with the Harris campaign, but they couldn’t come to an agreement on the length or location of filming.

Yet Trump has resisted opportunities to diversify. Nor has she appeared on the campaign trail alongside her Republican primary rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who captured a notable share of Republican voters over the winter and spring. The Trump campaign was in talks with Haley’s team earlier this month about deploying her alongside the Republican candidate on the tour, but a Trump adviser told it’s unclear whether any joint appearance will come to fruition before the day. the elections.

Haley told Fox News this week that she hasn’t spoken to Trump since June but is willing to participate.

Instead, Trump’s campaign reaffirmed its approach with a male-dominated rally at Madison Square Garden that drew criticism for misogynistic attacks by speakers against his female opponents past and present.

“This is not the time for you to become overly masculine with this camaraderie that you have,” Haley said in response to the rally in New York.

“Fifty-three percent of the electorate are women. Women will vote. They care about how they are spoken to and they care about the issues. “This is a moment of discipline, and this is the time to add.”

‘s Elizabeth Wagmeister, Ethan Cohen, Matt Holt and Molly English contributed to this report.