Will women embrace Kamala Harris? Experts say she’s injecting a ‘shot of adrenalin’

WASHINGTON — The Swifties4Kamala group is on the march. Popstar Charlie XCX declared that “Kamala is brat.” A Beyoncé song plays at the beginning of packed campaign rallies.

The Democratic presidential nominee is already the first woman to serve as vice-president and second to head a major party presidential ticket.

Harris and her campaign have been talking authoritatively about issues such as reproductive rights and equality for all.

But they are not explicitly leaning into her identity.

“She doesn’t have to talk about, ‘I would be the first woman.’ She just is,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “It’s just visible and very there.”

The Democrats are already riding off the momentum of female celebrities and everyday people who are galvanized by the possibility that the United States could finally be led by a woman. On the flip side, the vice-president is facing gendered attacks about her looks and smarts.

In November, motivating women to show up and vote could be key to clinching the White House — whether or not that call is overt.

“These elections, because they are so close, that turnout is just critical,” Walsh said.

The Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago next week with Harris’s campaign on the upswing, after her announcement of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

Polling numbers in crucial battleground states show support is slowly shifting towards the Democrats. Before President Joe Biden removed himself from the ticket and endorsed Harris, those contests had looked more favourable for Republican nominee Donald Trump.

As the Trump campaign slips, the former president has been testing attack lines with different nicknames and insults for his opponent.

At a rally Wednesday he called Harris “crazy” and “not smart.” In a long, meandering talk with tech billionaire Elon Musk on X, he also made comments about the vice-president’s appearance, comparing her to his wife, Melania.

Republican leaders have warned party members against using overtly racist and sexist attacks, urging them instead to focus on Harris’s record.

Walsh explained that voters don’t usually choose who gets their support based on whether it’s a woman or a man at the top of the ticket.

And women are not a monolithic voting demographic. There’s significant variation when race, ethnicity, education and income are factored in.

The last time a woman ran for president, Trump won.

During his campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016, there was outrage around Trump’s comments about women and the Democratic candidate. But he was still able to pull in significant support from women.

In 2020, after his four-year tenure, many such voters — particularly white women with college degrees — opted to support Biden instead. That was crucial to the Democrats’ return to the White House.

Getting out the vote makes all the difference, since even groups that are more uniform in their support may not always feel motivated to show up to the polls.

Black women have tended to vote for Democrats, with polls showing support from upwards of 90 per cent of respondents. Those voters were never going to show up for Trump in large numbers. But they might not have shown up for Biden, either, said Walsh.

Harris’s candidacy has “really been that shot of adrenalin,” she said.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Marc Trussler has been paying close attention to movement in the polls in the past few weeks — and the biggest swings in Harris’s favour have come among women, he said.

“That has been the biggest shift,” said Trussler, director of data science for the university’s program on opinion research and election studies.

The presidential race remains extremely tight, he added, but party unity and enthusiasm from women are helping the Democrats inch closer to success.

Outside the White House this week, some visitors were quick to downplay the role of gender and race when it comes to their voting decisions.

A couple from Kentucky said they were tired of talking about it and instead wanted to hear what both parties would do to bring down inflation and make life more affordable.

Steve, who didn’t want to provide his last name, said gender wouldn’t be a factor. “My priority’s making sure America is hanging in there,” he said as he ate a sandwich near the president’s residence. “Making sure the economy is staying strong.”

Walsh said Harris will have to strike a balance in keeping momentum behind the possibility of electing the first woman president without alienating other Americans.

People from around the world will be watching to see how that goes. Chidinma Okenyeka, who was touring D.C. from Manchester, England with her family, said it would be inspiring to see a Black woman become president of the United States.

“It would be amazing if that’s what the people want.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press