MAkkenzie Owens and her boyfriend strut to the camera like models on a catwalk, posing for dramatic sips from the Stanley Cup. The TikTok caption reads, “Lover and lover are going to cancel each other’s votes.” The couple, who live in Pennsylvania, are supporting different candidates this election season.
Owens created the TikTok to join a trend in which women reveal that they vote against the candidate their partner supports. In one video, a woman playfully covers her hair as she mails in her ballot and “proudly” cancels her boyfriend’s vote. ! ” In another photo, a woman dances to Ciara’s “Level Up,” then drives off to “cancel my Trump-loving husband’s vote in a swing state.”
Most of the dozens of women taking part are Democrats who support Kamala Harris’ candidacy, while their male partners are voting for Donald Trump. (Owens did not say who she or her boyfriend voted for.) Their posts offer levity at the end of an ugly presidential election, but gender plays a vital role in elections. It also emphasizes that.
A late October national poll conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University found that women overwhelmingly support Harris over Trump, 53% to 36%, while men favor Trump over Harris, 53% to 37%. It is a “mirror image” of what it supports. A Quinnipiac University poll in September similarly found a 26-point difference between men and women. Although unknown, it is true that a significant number of women are aware of this gender difference in their own relationships.
Owens, 19, doesn’t particularly care about her boyfriend’s politics. “Nowadays, people think they have to have the same political views as their partner, because[hyper-partisan politics]is a big problem in society. But personally, I , I think it’s cool to coexist and learn about the other side. I got different opinions that I hadn’t considered before,” she said. “But in a way, that’s socially unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, liberal TikTokers have criticized former President Trump, given his sexist comments about women and his appointment of anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court, which resulted in the Roe v. Wade reversal in 2022. He claims he can never date or marry a supporter. . “What do you mean you’re trying to invalidate my husband’s vote?” read one viral tweet. “You should be on your way to court. Divorce me, baby. Divorce.”
Women often respect their husbands’ presumed political expertise, but men reinforce that presumption.
Celinda Lake, Democratic pollster
Harris needs to take a cue from the TikTokers’ playbook and get women to vote Tuesday, especially those who might vote differently than men. But most of these posts come from young liberal women who feel safe publicly disagreeing with the candidates. In recent days, Democratic groups have been making overtures to Republican women, women who project conservatism on their friends and family but secretly harbor doubts about Trump.
The Guardian says that Republican support among women, particularly among white women who supported Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, can be partially explained by the influence of husbands, who appear to have influence over family votes. Strategists and advocates interviewed by
Democratic pollster Serinda Lake says, “Women often respect their husbands’ presumed political expertise, but men reinforce that presumption, assigning their own intensity, so-called superior expertise.” I will make a statement.” “We try to emphasize to women that you have your own way, your own point of view, and that you are thinking about what is best for the whole family. And that your vote is private. I emphasize it.”
That’s the sentiment reflected in a new ad narrated by Julia Roberts of the progressive evangelical group Vote Common Good. In the ad, a woman whose husband appears to be a Trump supporter enters a polling place to vote for Harris. “In the only place in America where women have the right to choose, you can vote whatever you want and no one will ever know,” Roberts says in voiceover.
Doug Padgitt, executive director of Vote Common Good, said the group first conceived of the ad during the 2022 midterm elections. “We continued to hear from women that if they didn’t hold the line (and vote for Trump), they would pay an emotional price in their families, friends, and church.” said Pagitt.
Michelle Obama spoke to voters in the battleground state while campaigning in Kalamazoo, Michigan. ” Liz Cheney, a Republican who campaigned with Harris in Detroit last week and is by no means Trump, reminded Republican women that there is no official way to find out how someone voted. Ta. And millions of Republicans will do so on November 5th. ”
The Lincoln Project, a moderate political action committee, also released an ad with a revealing title that features two Trump supporters assuming their wives also support the candidate. But when the couple goes to the polls, one woman mouths “Kamala” to the other, nods in the affirmative, and then both fill out their Democratic ballots.
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The message has drawn the ire of prominent conservatives who say it’s sexist and regressive to think women would vote for Trump just to appease their husbands. They also say that this message, paradoxically, undermines traditional family values. Charlie Kirk said last year that the “radical left” is “run by young, childless women” who are giving anti-depressants, and called the ad on Megyn Kelly’s podcast, “The American Family.” “It embodies the downfall of the world.”
Fox News host Jesse Watters said if he found out his wife had secretly voted for Harris, “that would be the same as having an affair…it violates the sanctity of marriage.” This is despite the fact that Watters had an affair with his current wife while he was still married to his first wife.
Kelly Dittmar, research director and scholar at Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, said that in the final stages, these complex and often secret relationship dynamics are influencing the Democratic Party’s ground game. “We see it in public women’s restrooms and other places where women can appeal directly without male barriers. There are stickers and signs that say, ‘Remember, your vote is private.’ ” she said.
Nancy Hirschman, a political scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said Harris’ campaign workers have been trained to avoid allowing wives who may be registered Democrats to go out with their Republican husbands. added. Instead of asking the woman’s name, ask if there are other voters in the chamber. ”
It is too early to tell whether women who code Republican will actually turn out to be hidden voters for Mr. Harris. But back on TikTok, women are vocally sharing their choices for 2024, even if they go against the choices of their partners or ex-partners.
Jamisen Casey, a 21-year-old student who attends school in California but is registered to vote in her home state of Tennessee, also joined the trend with a twist. Casey wrote in the caption of a video of her dancing to the song “We Both Reached for the Gun” from the musical “Chicago” while holding an envelope, “I went to my ex-girlfriend’s house to invalidate her vote.” “My absentee ballot on the way home,” he wrote.
“It’s really hard to know that there are men out there who are willing to vote against reproductive rights, even though they shouldn’t have a say,” said Casey, who voted for Harris. Ta. She believes that she cannot date someone again who does not share her views. “I’m a political science major, so I decided I didn’t want to be in that position.”
