Presidential poll shows women could pull off a stunner for Harris in Iowa
Iowa women age 65 and up have long been an understated voice for progress, even in stealth
2019 photo with Kamala Harris in West Des Moines by Kimberly Bowman
As one who knows little about either football or beer, I figured I lacked a grasp of game nuances to understand that moment inside the brewery Saturday. Iowa State’s chances of regaining the lead over Texas Tech seemed lost. Yet the young man at the table, who’d been vocal about every play, was now on his feet waving his phone, cheering and babbling about percentages, and muttering something about swapping the beer for champagne.
Turns out it wasn’t Cyclones vs. Red Raiders he was reacting to. It was Harris vs. Trump. Just three days before the election, in beet red Iowa, where Republicans control the governorship, the legislature, the judiciary and the attorney general’s office, the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll had Kamala Harris three points ahead of Donald Trump. In September, she’d been four points behind.
The Iowa Poll has long been the gold standard – the most unbiased and accurate reflection of political trends in this state – even when it ran counter to public expectations. This one was a stunner - until the Aha! moment when you saw where the jump in Harris’ support is coming from: Women of 65 and up.
“Independent women… back Harris by a 28-point margin, while independent men support Trump, but by a smaller margin,” said the Des Moines Register story. “... But senior women support her by a more than 2-to-1 margin, 63% to 28%.”
Older women have long been an understated force for progress in Iowa, even when they chose to stay private about it. I noticed that in my early years here, long before becoming a member of that demographic. I’d see it when one would reach out to me to share a story of inequality or respond to something I’d written but want to remain behind the scenes. Over the years I’ve heard from female campaign workers who went door-knocking for candidates and witnessed how a woman’s more liberal views were silenced when the man of the house came to the door.
But in the privacy of the voting booth women are freest to act on their consciences.
For several years now, we in Iowa have been getting a front-row seat on what totalitarian governance can look like. Some of us are feeling the full weight of relentless hard-right GOP policies being pushed on us by the governor, state legislature and courts: The transfer of public education funding to private schools, the rejection of federal funding to feed poor children, the shuttering of state government divisions to elevate the needs of women, people of color and those with special needs.
Curbs on what can be taught in publicly funded universities have dictated what young people cannot learn about some not-so-savory aspects of our national history. And tweaks to the process of selecting judges have given the governor the ability to pack the court with her ideological allies. The turning point for many was Iowa’s 6-week abortion ban that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision toppling Roe v. Wade, followed by the newly constituted Iowa Supreme Court toppling Iowa women’s freedom of choice.
Now some older Iowa women, including some who lived through a time without abortion rights, seem to be saying Enough! They’re unwilling to sit back and see history repeat itself as their daughters and granddaughters lose rights over their bodies.
“Age and gender are the two most dynamic factors that are explaining these numbers,” Pollster J. Ann Selzer of the Iowa Poll told the Register.
It looks like we’re seeing this trend across the country. CBS news anchor Norah O’Donnell observed that in the 2022 elections following the Dobbs decision, abortion was on the ballot in seven states. And in all of them, even conservative ones, abortion rights measures passed.
Tuesday’s will be the first presidential election since Dobbs, and women around the country have been turning out in droves in early voting.
Maybe Trump and state-level Republican politicians overplayed their hands by not realizing women voters around the country can play the game too – even if quietly and privately. But women could become less quiet and private about it with Kamala Harris as president.
I’m keeping the champagne chilling. There’s so much to be done before corks can be popped. We have to keep the momentum going and get every last voter who cares to the polls Tuesday - or wake up Wednesday regretting what we didn’t do to make history and preserve our rights.
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You go, ladies. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your children, grandchildren, even great grandchildren suffer or even die for what one party deems is their business in deciding this issue FOR US. This party has decided to butt in. They are driving OBGYN doctors from Iowa. Some of the party is trying to force their religious beliefs on us. That to is a decision women can make as well
Posted this when I shared this article on my FB page, but wanted to share here, too.
Yesterday on a walk, I stopped at the Royal Mile for a cocktail (gin gimlet, in case you were wondering). As the man next to me and I struck up a conversation (not sharing even his first name cuz I promised not to) he disclosed this:
* He’s a DC lobbyist who had just arrived to volunteer for the Zach Nunn campaign.
* A lifelong Republican, he feels the party has gone too far on a lot of issues.
* He did not vote for Trump in the past election, and he’s not voting for him in this election.
The this guy is KEEPING HIS VOTE A SECRET says A LOT. It makes Rekha’s latest offering especially relevant.