After narrowly winning the support of suburban white women in 2016, polls show that President Donald Trump isn't seeing the same support with the key demographic in 2020.
As a result, Trump has attempted to appeal to them in the last months of his campaign.
Earlier this summer, Trump attempted to stoke racist fears that "suburban housewives" would be left vulnerable by expanded low-income housing he says would occur under the administration of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
He doubled down on those attacks by trying to paint Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)—a vegan known for his hugs and for saving women from burning buildings—as a terrifying prospect to run Biden's Housing and Urban Development department. People largely thought Trump assumed Booker would stoke fear because he's a Black man.
After begging suburban women at rallies to "please like" him, Trump is now using 1950s rhetoric to appeal to them.
Watch below.
President Trump: "We're getting your husbands back to work." pic.twitter.com/8pWWTFGgqM
— The Hill (@thehill) October 28, 2020
Claiming he was "saving suburbia," Trump said at a Nebraska rally:
"[suburban women] want security. They want safety. They want law and order. ... I'm also getting your husbands, They want to get back to work. They want to get back to work. We're getting your husbands back to work, and everybody wants it."
As displayed by his "suburban housewives" comment, Trump seemed to yet again not realize that millions of women across suburban America have—or had, before the pandemic—jobs of their own.
People were unsettled by the antiquated assertion.
As a single mom who works full time to support and raise my three children by myself, I cannot even begin to tell you how offensive this statement is to me. https://t.co/eOekavBkuY
— Liddle' Savage (@littledeekay) October 27, 2020
Men were quick to mock him as well.
The presidential election is on November third, but it could be longer before we know whether or not suburban white women have soured on Trump.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
