[트럼프 2기] The right to terminate pregnancy was not empowered, white women were not empowered… The glass ceiling was strong.

The white female vote that was expected for ‘Hidden Harris’ was also minimal.

Although Harris did not mention ‘women’

Trump actively exploits male voter anxiety

Vice President Kamala Harris lost the U.S. presidential election held on the 5th (local time), putting an end to the creation of the first female president. AFP Yonhap News

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, lost in the US presidential election held on the 5th (local time), putting an end to the creation of the first female president. There was an expectation that white women, a traditional Republican support base, could become ‘hidden Harris supporters’, but ultimately failed to rally them. The issue of women’s right to terminate pregnancy was not as powerful as expected, and the ‘glass ceiling‘ was strong.

Vice President Harris has set several records, including the first female and black California attorney general, and the first female, black, and Asian vice president. Last July, she took over the presidential candidacy after President Joe Biden suddenly resigned due to ‘old age risk’, and became the first female president of the United States in eight years since former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

He quickly secured the support of former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a senior member of the Democratic Party, and caused an initial sensation by raising $1 billion (about 1.3963 trillion won) in campaign funds within two months of running. There was speculation that women’s votes would shift toward Vice President Harris due to the issue of the right to terminate pregnancy, but this did not lead to actual votes.

A female supporter listens to Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech concluding her defeat at Howard University on the 6th (local time). AP Yonhap News

Looking at the exit poll results conducted by CNN on election day and early voting by gender, Vice President Harris received 10 percentage points more support from female voters than President-elect Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. However, this figure is actually a decrease compared to 2016 (+13 percentage points) or 2020 (+15 percentage points). Looking at the issue of abortion alone, Vice President Harris recorded a 78% point lead among voters who said ‘abortion of pregnancy is legal in all cases’, but only 4% points ahead among voters who said ‘it is legal in most cases’.

The Democratic Party warned during the campaign that President-elect Trump would implement a federal ban on abortion, but it did not have any influence on voters. CNN said on the 6th (local time), “This shows that this issue was not a deciding factor for many voters.”

Vice President Harris did not actively promote her identity as a woman or black during the election process. Former Secretary Clinton emphasized her bid for the first female presidency by using ‘I’m with her’ as her campaign slogan, but it was evaluated as the worst slogan of all time.

Politico, a political media outlet, said, “In 2016, Clinton wore a white pantsuit and performed at the Javits Center in New York, literally breaking the glass ceiling, but Harris avoided mentioning gender.” It was a move inspired by American women’s rights activists in the early 20th century who marched in white clothes demanding women’s suffrage.

On the other hand, the Trump camp actively mobilized men by stimulating gender issues. Kelly Dietmar, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told the Associated Press, “Trump did well to capitalize on (male voters’) fears that ‘gender norms and power dynamics are collapsing.’”

There is also an analysis that Vice President Harris’s failure is due to the chronic glass ceiling problem. Regarding Vice President Harris’ election defeat on the 6th, the New York Times said, “105 years have passed since the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed women’s suffrage, but Americans have not decided to send a woman to the White House.” has been led by men for 248 years (since the announcement of the Declaration of Independence), and will continue to be so for at least four more years.”