As the 2024 election approaches, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a historic contest that could result in the first woman president of the United States. The race has reignited conversations about gender representation in politics, an issue that remains important to many Americans. While views on the current level of representation for women in politics have shifted little over the last two elections, new polling finds that the expectation of a woman becoming president soon has increased.
Americans remain divided on whether they hope to see a woman in the Oval Office within their lifetime. Beyond politics, most Americans believe in the concept of equality between men and women, even if they don’t personally identify as feminists. The division is sharper among Harris and Trump supporters — Harris supporters are more likely to see gender inequality as a pressing issue and to believe that women are just as qualified as men to hold the highest offices in government.
Representation of women in politics
Representation of women in politics is important to most Americans; 56% say it is very important for women to be represented. This marks a slight increase from just after Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016, when 50% said it was very important. Among Democrats, there was a 15-percentage-point increase, to 85% from 70%.
Views on how well women are represented in politics have changed little since eight years. Only 16% of Americans believe women are very well represented in politics, while 40% say they are represented somewhat well and 36% say they are not represented very well or at all. These results are similar to what we found just after the 2016 election.
While many don't think women are well represented, Americans are increasingly likely to expect a female president to be elected in the near future; 37% say it will happen in the next five years. (About as many — 35% — think Harris will win this election.) In March 2020, only 10% thought this, and in November 2016 (soon after Clinton's loss), only 12% did. However, when we asked the same question in 2015 — when Clinton was leading Trump in most polls — 33% expected a woman to be elected president in the next five years, which is only slightly below the share who say so today.
Separately from what they expect to happen, Americans are divided on whether they want a woman elected president in their lifetime: 45% say they hope for a woman president in their lifetime, and 45% say it doesn't matter to them. The share who are hopeful has risen steadily since we first asked in February 2016. At that point, just 32% hoped for a woman president. The increase has been particularly stark among Democrats: 86% now actively desire a woman president, compared to 59% in 2016.
Why hasn't the U.S. elected a woman to its highest office? The largest share (38%) cite Americans' reluctance to vote for a woman, from among four reasons offered in the poll. Smaller shares say it is mainly because qualified women have not been willing to run (16%), there are too few women with experience to run (15%), or that most women aren't qualified (10%). These findings are similar to what we found in a similar question posed in 2016.
Treatment of women in politics
Most Americans think women in politics have become more respected over time. 64% of Americans say respect for them has increased in the past 15 years. A similar share said in 2016 that respect for women had risen over the previous 15 years.
Significant shares of Americans — and higher shares of women — believe that women in politics are treated unequally by the media, donors, and their opponents. Views on their treatment have not changed much since 2016.
- 40% think that women who run for office are treated more harshly than men by the news media.
- 39% believe the media spends more time discussing the physical appearances of women candidates than of men.
- 27% say the media spends less time talking about female candidates' policy positions
- 34% say donors are less generous toward women candidates than toward men.
- 43% believe that women are treated more harshly by their opponents than male candidates are.
Views on feminism and gender equality
The majority of Americans (55%) say they do not identify as either a feminist or anti-feminist. One in four (24%) say they are either a feminist or strong feminist, and 9% say they are either an anti-feminist or strong anti-feminist.
About one-third (31%) of women identify as a feminist, while 8% say they are anti-feminist. Feminist identification is especially common among women who support Harris (60%) or have college degrees (43%). Women who support Trump are more likely to identify as anti-feminists (12%) than as feminists (7%).
Men are somewhat more likely to call themselves feminists (17%) than anti-feminists (10%). Men under 45 are more likely than older men to adopt both labels: 23% say they're feminists and 15% say they're anti-feminists. 40% of men who support Harris see themselves as feminists, compared to only 5% of Trump-supporting men. While college-educated men are slightly more likely to identify as feminists than men without a college degree, the education divide among men is far less stark than it is among women.
Perceptions of the term "feminist" are split. 30% see "feminist" as either mostly or completely positive, 35% as mostly or completely negative, and 27% as neutral.
But the vast majority of most Americans believe in gender equality in the abstract: 77% say that men and women should be social, political, and economic equals. That includes majorities of women (81%), men (72%), Harris supporters (94%), and Trump supporters (69%).
The same large share (77%) agree that women are just as qualified as men to hold the highest offices in government; 14% do not. Supporters of Harris are significantly more likely to think men and women are equally qualified than are supporters of Trump (95% vs. 67%) — roughly the same gap as on belief that men and women should be equals
More agree (57%) than disagree (24%) that the country would be better off if women had more to say about politics. This question divides supporters of each candidate even more: 90% of Harris supporters but only 29% of Trump supporters think we'd be better off with women getting more involved. Since 2020, the share who see benefits to greater women's involvement has fallen 6 points, including a bigger drop of 13 points among Republicans.
Are men or women better suited emotionally for politics? The answer depends on who you ask: 60% of Harris supporters agree that most women are better suited than are most men, while only 18% of Trump supporters do. Only 14% of Harris supporters and 60% of Trump supporters say most men are better suited. Since 2020, there has been a 9-point increase in the share of Americans saying most men are more emotionally suited for politics than are most women. This has been driven largely by Republicans: 55% agree now, compared to 39% who did in 2020.
Fewer than one in five Americans — and fewer than one-quarter of Trump supporters — agree that "politics is too dirty a business for women to become involved in" and the same is true for agreement with the statement that "women should take care of running their homes and leave running the country up to men."
Women's issues and the 2024 election
Women’s issues are important to a significant share of Americans; 34% say they are very important in their vote for president this year, including 42% of women, 26% of men, 65% of Harris supporters, and 16% of Trump supporters. More Americans think the Democratic Party handles women’s issues better (47%) than say the Republican Party does (29%).
Most Americans (68%) think women who are politicians should at least sometimes talk about their experience as women, including 28% who say they should do so often. The same share (28%) say that Harris has often talked about her experience as a woman during the 2024 campaign — slightly more than say Hillary Clinton did during the 2016 campaign (24%).
Twice as many Americans say that Harris being elected president would be good for women than say Trump being elected would (48% vs. 24%). 26% say Harris would be bad for women and 44% say Trump would be. When we last asked a similar question in October 2016, 18% said Trump would be good for women and 47% said he would be bad for them.
There is a similar pattern on opinion as to whether Harris and Trump respect women: 57% say Harris does while only 33% say Trump does.
The share saying Trump respects women has increased slightly over time, especially among Republicans. In 2020, 29% said he respects women and in 2016, 26% said so. Among Republicans, the share saying he does rose to 71% from 65% in 2020 and 55% in 2016.
Americans are divided on whether allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Trump are credible: 44% find them credible and 29% find them not credible. This is similar to the shares who found them credible in 2020 and 2016.
If the allegations that Trump sexually assaulted women are true, 41% think it disqualifies him from the presidency, while 24% think it is relevant but does not disqualify him. 23% say it is not relevant. In 2020, 18% said it wasn't relevant and in 2016, 22% did. About half (49%) of Republicans say that even if the allegations are true, they wouldn't be relevant. This is more than said so in 2020 (29%) or 2016 (39%).
Related:
- Women’s uncertainty about their economic opportunities after the overturning of Roe v. Wade
- Far more Americans want women to have 'a lot' of influence on abortion policy than say they do
- Would America be better with more women in charge?
- What Americans think about the diversity of their elected officials
- How much do Americans know about the history of women’s rights in the U.S.?
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This poll was conducted online on October 24 - 28, 2024 among 1,139 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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