Donald Trump's problem with women started long before his latest brush with putting full support behind a man with credible sexual assault allegations against him. But Trump’s latest go 'round with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is exacerbating the female support fallout that appears to have started with his forced family separations this summer.
In short, Trump is increasingly turning off more independent women and even some Republican women at the same time that the Democratic Party is getting a considerable bump in popularity among female voters overall. Bottom line: the Democratic party has just crossed the threshold into favorable territory with women overall, 46 to 44 percent, while Trump is 27 points underwater with them and the Republican party is 35 points in the negative with female voters. Let's look at the trends from Civiqs.
Independent women and Trump
The Trump administration's family separation crisis first started coming into public view in early May, but the gravity of the forcible kidnappings took several months to sink in as news trickled out story by story. The real turning point in public opinion and awareness appears to have come in the aftermath of dozens of rallies against the policy that took place across the country on June 30. Since that time, Trump has steadily lost ground among independent women as his unfavorable rating ticked up 5 points, from 58 to 63 percent.
Democratic women almost universally despise Trump at 95 percent disapproval, so their numbers barely budged. But interestingly, there has been a modest fall off in support for Trump even among Republican women.
Independent women and Democrats
During approximately the same time period, independent women have begun to view the Democratic Party more favorably, with Democrats picking up 7 points among the demographic (27 to 34 percent) while their unfavorables simultaneously tick down.
Views among Democratic women have likewise gotten a slight bump from 80 to 83 percent favorable, though Republican women haven't budged a bit at 93 percent unfavorable. Still, the upward trend among independent and Democratic women starting in September has put Democrats in positive territory with women overall for the first time since early 2016.
Meanwhile, Trump is underwater with women overall by fully 27 points, 62 to 35 percent unfavorable/favorable.
But remember, although the GOP’s numbers with women haven’t changed much from this summer, the party still fares worse with them than anyone. Republicans are fully 35 points underwater, 62 to 27 percent unfavorable/favorable.