Why do some women support Donald Trump?

WHEN Melania Trump called for a gentler, kinder politics and an end to cyberbullying in a stump speech in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, on November 3rd, it prompted howls of derision and disbelief among many political observers, especially on social media. “Our culture has gotten too mean and rough” said the wife of a man famed for insulting his opponents, particularly on Twitter, as she called for people to vote for Donald Trump.
But among the crowd Mrs Trump addressed, in an indoor soccer complex in Berwyn, a suburb of Philadelphia, no one appeared fazed by her rather obvious chutzpah. One woman, holding a small and restless child, listened to the former Slovenian model with tears rolling down her cheeks. This seemed a particularly stark illustration of the mutual incomprehension that exists between Mr Trump’s critics and his fans.
No group has been more abused by the Republican nominee than women. Mrs Trump, with an irony lost on none of her husband’s critics, might have had him in mind when she spoke of the bullying that makes its victims “feel less in looks or intelligence”. Mr Trump has described women as “pigs” and “dogs”, wisecracked disdainfully about menstruating, and has been heard boasting of his ability to grab women by the genitals, because he is “a star”. Most women are so repelled by such talk that this election seems likely to produce a historic gender gap. Even as the polls have tightened in recent days, following fresh e-mail troubles for Hillary Clinton, the gap remains a chasm.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll published on November 3rd showed Mrs Clinton three percentage points ahead of Mr Trump, well down from her mid-October heights. But among women she led him by 11 points. Among college-educated white women—the group, well-represented in Philadelphia’s suburbs, which Mrs Trump had been sent to win over—she led him by a mighty 27 points. But the legions of hot pink “Women for Trump” banners held high for Mrs Trump, as she delivered her first public speech since the Republican convention in July, is a reminder that, despite his unpopularity with women, there are still millions of them who will vote for Mr Trump. Why are they not put off by his apparent contempt for their sex?
Asked why they felt able to support a chauvinist, many of the women who had come to hear Mrs Trump said Mr Trump’s lewd talk and denigration of women was normal. “When men get together, that’s how they talk,” said Dottie, a housewife. “I’ve worked with men all my life, so I’ve heard it all,” said Rosalie, a retiree. “We live in a sexual society,” shrugged Angela, a teacher.
This should perhaps not be surprising. Women have a long history of making excuses for badly behaved men. Less than a third of American women call themselves feminists. Insofar as the women in Berwyn expressed any sort of gender-specific view it was in their praise of Mrs Trump, as a stay-home mother during much of the campaign.
“She felt her place was with her son and as a woman I felt that was very important,” said Angela approvingly. When someone—a man—in the crown shouted “We love your body!” at Mrs Trump, shortly after she walked on-stage, no woman around him appeared to object.
In explaining their devotion to the Republican nominee, some women in the crowd in Berwyn said their religious beliefs or party political loyalty made it impossible for them to imagine casting a vote for anyone but the Republican candidate. Asked whether Mr Trump’s displays of misogyny had tested that loyalty, they dismissed the question as irrelevant. “Whatever people accuse him of having said, you’ve got to ask, what is he going to do as president?” said Bryne, a stay home mother who was at the rally with her two small toddlers. Saving the Supreme Court from a liberal tilt and fighting late term abortions were the most important issues for her, she said.
Abortion was even more of a concern for conservative Christians. Mr Trump has promised to get “Roe v Wade” repealed, which as president he would have no power to do, but it had earned him the support of Elaine, a housewife with a “Christian Radio” sticker on her shoulder. “I love his brash truth”, she said.
Other women in the crowd were harder to categorise. Ila, who had been doing door-to-door canvassing for the Trump campaign in her spare time, in some ways sounded like a text-book Trump supporter. She approved of Mr Trump’s vow to “clean up Washington”. She believed the FBI and Department of Justice were “in collusion” to stitch up Mr Trump. She was deeply suspicious of the government. But she was also a doctor, highly educated, and held many socially liberal beliefs, including the belief that abortion should be safe and legal. Asked about Mr Trump’s stand on it, she dismissed it as unimportant: “I don’t think he really thinks Roe v Wade will be overturned”.
Indeed, many women in Berwyn suggested that, though they didn’t like everything Mr Trump said, they didn’t think he could have really meant what they disliked. Victoria, a travel consultant who migrated from Uruguay 35 years ago, said she would find his threat to deport illegal immigrants difficult to stomach—but she did not believe he really meant it:  “I think that was propaganda. I think at the beginning of his campaign he said a lot of things that just came into his mind.”
What mostly seemed to unite the women at Mrs Trump’s rally was their professed hatred of another woman. “I just cannot stand Hillary Clinton, there is nothing good about her, she’s what I call a grifter,” said Dottie. Over a quarter of a century ago feminists disliked the fact that Mrs Clinton became known as the wife of a powerful man; more traditional women found her sneering. There was nothing to suggest any changed attitude, about Mrs Clinton or the status of women, in Berwyn.
And that may be why Mr Trump is carrying on regardless with his sexist bile. Every woman he could offend is already offended; the rest—and there are a great number of them—are not greatly bothered. “When I look at these great admirals and these great generals and these great medal of honour recipients behind me, to think of her being their boss?” asked the Republican nominee in North Carolina later that same day, to mock the notion of a woman commander-in-chief. “I don’t think so”.