During his victory press conference after sweeping five primaries Tuesday night, Donald Trump made an assertion that seemed overly confident even for him: He’d do better with women than Hillary Clinton, who could be the first woman to serve as president.
Donald Trump says women don’t like Hillary Clinton. They dislike him even more.
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Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
“The only card she has is the woman’s card. She’s got nothing else to offer,” Trump said in a response to a question from Vox’s Liz Plank. “And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card, and the beautiful thing is, women don’t like her.”
But among women, Clinton is still much more popular than Trump.
About 43 percent of women have a favorable opinion of Clinton, compared to 54 percent with an unfavorable opinion, according to the latest tracking poll from nonpartisan technology and media company Morning Consult. And 39 percent have a “very unfavorable” opinion.
Given Trump’s assertion that Clinton’s gender makes her more popular, it’s worth noting that she’s quite a bit more unpopular among men than she is among women.
Trump, on the other hand, is viewed favorably by just 34 percent of women — and that’s actually better than he scores in most polls, perhaps because “somewhat favorable” was an option. (Gallup found that just 23 percent of women have a favorable opinion.)
The majority of women really don’t like Donald Trump:
And in a head-to-head matchup, if the election were today, Clinton would trounce Trump among women unless nearly all undecided women broke his way.
Given how little he’s liked, that seems quite unlikely.
