After the 2012 election, the Republican party knew it had a problem with women. In fact, it dedicated a whole section of the so-called 2012 election "autopsy report" to female voters. The Growth and Opportunity report, which was meant to guide the party to victory in future elections, noted that Barack Obama won single women by a "whopping" 36 points and all women by 11 points in 2012. As a result, it recommended 10 action items that would help the party "improve our brand with women throughout the country."
So how's that going? Not well, obviously. The GOP may have nominated a marketing genius in Donald Trump, but he's proven to be the worst person to improve the GOP brand with American women. He even admitted it in 1999, telling Chris Matthews: "People want me to [run for president] all the time . . . I don't like it. Can you imagine how controversial I'd be? You think about [Bill Clinton] and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?"
Trump's misogyny has been well documented the entire campaign. Megyn Kelly brought it up in the first GOP debate, asking Trump if he had the temperament to be president considering he had called women "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." His attack of Kelly following the debate only confirmed his disrespect: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes," he said. "Blood coming out of her wherever."
While it didn't seem possible, Trump's relationship with women voters is getting even more dire as election day draws near. After the "Trump Tapes" leaked last week, voters heard the GOP nominee bragging about sexually assaulting women. And his victims are coming forward. All signs point to a total meltdown of support among women, as evidenced in this Five Thirty Eight map that imagines how Trump would do if only women voted:
Here's what the map would look line if only women voted: https://t.co/sjVY67qouE pic.twitter.com/rrc3GuXmGl
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 11, 2016
Recognizing that women could change the outcome of the election, some Trump supporters on Twitter this week dreamed about repealing the 19th Amendment. You know, the one that gave women the right to vote.
I would be willing to give up my right to vote to make this happen #repealthe19th https://t.co/vndQu9dKFP
— CT Christian 4 Trump (@TracyOgrodnik) October 12, 2016
To prevent the US from becoming Brazil.
#RepealThe19th pic.twitter.com/QQVd3Qre7O— Ad Benedict 🐸 (@AdBen_) October 12, 2016
(Brazil's most recent president was a woman named Dilma Vana Rousseff.)
Looking back on the GOP's assessment, the danger of alienating women was no secret. Below are some of their recommendations for reaching out to women voters — remember, this was just three years ago! Reading them, you feel like Donald Trump has hijacked the party:
Trump's ability to repel many women voters like nobody else was one of the reasons I said Trump could never win the general election, months before the latest revelations. Women will show the GOP it can't get away with nominating a candidate who degrades females as long as they vote Nov. 8.