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On Politics With Lisa Lerer
Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host.
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Throughout the Trump administration, there has been a fair amount of attention paid to the influx of women into politics. Historic numbers of women ran for, and won, political office last November. Six women are running for the Democratic presidential nomination. And from the Women’s March to voter turnout, it’s clear that women — particularly Democrats — are engaged in American politics as never before.
But there has been far less focus on what, exactly, all these female voters want.
Now, some new polling conducted for the women’s political action group Supermajority, and shared first with On Politics, gives us a unique look at how women are shaping the political landscape — and how politics is shaping women’s lives.
“Women’s equality is at the forefront of people’s minds in a way that it hasn’t been ever in my history of looking at research and polling,” said Cecile Richards, the former Planned Parenthood president. “How candidates talk about these issues and think about them is really going to be influential in the coming elections.”
Supermajority, a nonpartisan organization, aims to train two million women to organize around political issues related to women’s equality. Part of that effort means asking about topics that are rarely addressed in political surveys — issues including gender equity and recent restrictions on abortion.
Here’s some of what they found.
On gender equality:
• There is a big partisan split over whether gender equality has been achieved: While 88 percent of Democratic women believe there is “still work to be done,” just 46 percent of Republican women agree.
On the recent abortion laws:
• The passage of new abortion laws, which essentially banned the procedure in a number of states, was a mobilizing moment for many female voters. Fifty-five percent of women said the recent laws made them think about the state of women’s rights and equality; 57 percent said they talked to friends or family about them.
On President Trump:
• Nearly every segment of female voters is more likely to think President Trump has made things worse for women, rather than better: Democratic women, 81 percent to 5 percent; Latinx women, 57 to 21; independent women, 47 to 25. Only Republican women disagree — 5 percent said he had made things worse for them, while 62 percent said better.
On the 2020 election:
• The survey asked which issues are “extremely important” in the presidential election. Climate change was an answer for 65 percent of Democratic women, and 14 percent of Republican women. Conversely, illegal immigration was a response for 72 percent of Republicans, and 43 percent of Democrats.
[See the poll’s full results here.]
Tresa Undem, who conducted the poll, said she started seeing women take a more assertive position on issues of equality beginning in 2014. Since Mr. Trump’s election, she said, that sentiment has exploded.
“We were observing this simmering. And then we saw it erupt,” she said. “In my view, we are in the midst of a massive women’s movement.”
Katherine Grainger, a co-founder of Supermajority and a partner at Civitas Public Affairs Group, agrees. “What we’re in right now is kind of a crescendo moment where women who normally were on the sidelines are getting involved,” she said. “Women are feeling their power.”
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Tonight we have the third installment of our state fair series Candidates on Rides in Iowa, featuring Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
(If you missed Parts 1 and 2, here are Cory Booker on the Ferris wheel and Amy Klobuchar on the sky ride.)
In this edition, Ms. Gillibrand and her son Henry, 11, take the Grand Wheel. Henry is excited. Ms. Gillibrand … maybe a little less so.
Lisa: What’s the best thing you did at the fair so far?
Kirsten Gillibrand: I liked the slide, but I was a little disappointed that Henry beat me. He crushed me. I was beat by not just Henry, but Jonathan [her husband].
Henry: At the start, my dad was ahead of me because he started before me — but I became more aerodynamic. So I won.
One thing that struck us was how central gun control has become in this primary. Do you think it’s changed the race in some way?
Gillibrand: No, but I think it is definitely at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Communities are really being torn apart. And for many of us, gun violence has been something that’s a part of our lives. Gabby Giffords was one of my best friends in the House. And so to have to see these gun shootings over and over again, especially—
(Looks down from the ride, grimaces) I’m looking up.
So, to answer your question, I don’t think it’s changing the race. But I do think it’s something that people want to talk about, and they want to make sure that you’re going to put their family first. It’s absurd that our kids today have to be doing shelter-in-place drills. When there was a shooting a mile from Henry’s school, they had to shelter in place.
Henry: Yeah. We had to do a shelter-in-place.
Gillibrand: And it was frightening for me as a parent because I want to rush to the school; I want to protect my child. And that’s what parents every day are feeling.
Do you think the Democratic field’s too big? It’s a complaint I’ve heard from a lot of voters.
Gillibrand: No, because at the end of the day, what a primary’s about is allowing people to come forward with their visions for the country, with their experience, and giving caucusgoers in Iowa, early voters in New Hampshire, the opportunity to assess them and who is the best standard-bearer to not only defeat Trump but actually govern.
And I do believe there’s been a false choice in the narrative, that you either have to be a super-uber-progressive who inspires the base or you need to be the moderate who wins back those Obama-Trump voters. I don’t think that’s true. I think you actually need somebody who can do both, which is ultimately why I decided to run, because I can do both, and I have done both in the decade I’ve been in public service and in the U.S. Senate.
I’m wondering if you think that you have taken a disproportionate amount of, uh, (glancing at Henry), poop, for the Al Franken situation?
Gillibrand: Without a doubt. I would do it again, because I will stand by those eight women.
I think that, given he had eight allegations — two since he was elected, and the last one was a congressional staffer — I just got to the point where enough was enough, and I wasn’t willing to continue to defend him with my silence and continue to carry his water. And I felt I had to speak out. I was the first, and 34 other senators quickly followed me. You wouldn’t know that today because I seem to stand alone. But we, as a party, should hold each other to the highest standards, not the lowest.
In your view, is there a path back for some people who are accused in this #MeToo era? And what does that look like?
Gillibrand: Of course, there’s always room for redemption. We are a country that believes in redemption. All it takes is an ounce of humility to recognize that you were wrong, the ability to say you’re sorry, and then you are redeemed. It just takes a little bit of humility and thoughtfulness. That’s all it takes.
(The ride approaches the end) Oh, that’s it? It’s so short. They need to make money.
Was this the most humiliating thing you’ve done in this presidential race?
Gillibrand: No. At least you didn’t make me go on that thing (gesturing at roller coaster).
We can do that next?
Gillibrand: Yeah. No, this is the kind of ride I can handle. That one, no.
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Last week we recommended the 1619 Project, a new endeavor by The Times that re-examines America’s history through the essential, but often-ignored, frame of slavery. Well, we’re going to recommend it again. It’s just that good.
Start with this opening essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones, which looks at slavery’s indelible role in America’s founding, and the belief in the American dream that black Americans have nevertheless maintained.
On Politics readers will also be interested in this piece by Jamelle Bouie, which traces the current political debate over who counts as a “real” American back to the plantation era, and one man in particular — John C. Calhoun, the senator, secretary of state and two-time vice president.
And there’s more: Essays on slavery’s role in shaping American capitalism, America’s health care system, American music, even America’s obsession with sugar. There’s also a collection of original poetry and fiction, based on lesser-known moments in American history.
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I could watch Andrew Yang do Jazzercise for a long time. Oh wait, I just did.
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