The voting gender gap has taken on new meaning as a nonprofit organization urges women to vote as they see fit—and hide it from their husbands if necessary.
Vote Common Good, which has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, released an ad that ruffled feathers due to its suggestion that women will vote for the vice president but let their husbands believe they’re voting for ex-President Donald Trump.
The ad, narrated by Hollywood star Julia Roberts, reminds voters that the voting booth is “the one place in America where women still have a right to choose. You can vote any way you want, and no one will ever know.” Women share knowing looks as they fill in the vote for Harris, then tell their husbands they “sure did” make “the right choice.”
The “gender gap” in voting has continued to prove a prominent and potentially vital part of Tuesday’s election. Topics such as abortion and health care have driven support for Harris, and she tried to directly appeal to women voters through her appearance on podcasts like Call Her Daddy.
Former Republican U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney endorsed this idea during an appearance with Harris in a Detroit suburb last month, saying, “If you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.”
“And there will be millions of Republicans who do that on November 5,” Cheney said.
Women have also had a strong showing for early voting in swing states, with a 10-point advantage over male voters. In Pennsylvania, for example, women accounted for 56 percent of the early vote as of October 31.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on October 25 showed a large gap between women voters, with 53 percent supporting Harris versus 36 percent backing Trump, while for men, the support is reversed with virtually identical breakdowns.
USA Today noted that should this contrast continue into Election Day, it would mark “the biggest disparity since a gender gap emerged more than four decades ago, in 1980.”
A woman votes on the first day of Virginia’s in-person early voting on September 20 in Arlington. The nonprofit Vote Common Good urges women to vote as they see fit—and hide it from their husbands if necessary.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk bemoaned this stark difference, warning, “If men stay at home, Kamala is president. It’s that simple.”
Kirk also addressed the advertisement and its suggestion that women might vote for Harris and not tell their husbands about it: During an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show, Kirk called the idea “repulsive” and “disastrous.”
“It is the embodiment of the downfall of the American family. I think it’s so gross. I think it’s just so nauseating,” Kirk told former Fox News anchor Kelly, arguing that the husband “works his tail off to make sure that she can have a nice life.”
Ron Filipkowski, staunch Trump critic and former federal prosecutor, called out Kirk while posting the interview to his account on X, formerly Twitter: “Charlie Kirk is upset that Republican women may ‘undermine their husbands’ and secretly vote for Harris …”
Charlie Kirk is upset that Republican women may “undermine their husbands” and secretly vote for Harris while telling their husbands they voted for Trump, even though the husband “works his tail off to make sure that she can have a nice life.” pic.twitter.com/3ttLOqROBy
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 31, 2024
Pastor Doug Pagitt, Vote Common Good’s executive director, told Newsweek that the ad aimed to address a “fundamental problem” the group observed among voters.
“The ad is about a woman and her ballot and MAGA has made it about a man and his wife,” Pagitt said in a statement emailed to Newsweek. “And that’s a fundamental problem. We know the MAGA movement is putting increased pressure on people, but we also know the strong will of Americans when they stand in the voting booth.”
“Our work is all about helping people do the thing in the voting booth that they know in their heart they want to do,” he added. “We’ve traveled the country and met people all over who have a higher calling for their vote than just what their political party or friends demand of them. We know they’ll think about who they love the most when they vote and not just what their political party or religious community tells them to do.”
“We know women and men all over this country will vote for Kamala Harris because it’s not only good for the country, but benefits those they love the most,” Pagitt continued.
The trend is perhaps more noticeable among younger voters: A couple on TikTok posted a video with the caption, “Just a bf and a gf going to cancel each other’s votes—part of a trend on social media in which women disclose that they’re voting against their significant other, according to The Guardian.
The gender gap could prove a significant blow to Trump’s aspirations for a second term, according to historical data. Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics analyzed self-reporting among voters from 1980 to the present, examining registration and turnout, and in virtually every case, found women are more likely to register and show up to vote.
In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 68.4 percent of eligible women voters reported voting versus 65 percent of eligible men, totaling 82.2 million women and 72.5 million men. The data also showed both men and women were far more likely to vote during a presidential election than during midterms.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns via email for comment on Friday afternoon.
Have you considered or decided to keep your vote private from your spouse or family? Let us know at p.aitken@newsweek.com, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
