Kamala Harris: The Fight to Break the Glass Ceiling and Face Trump

Featured & Cover  Kamala Harris The Fight to Break the Glass Ceiling and Face Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris stands on the cusp of a historic opportunity: the chance to defeat former President Donald Trump and become the first female president of the United States. As she steps into the spotlight following President Joe Biden’s decision on July 21 to step aside, Harris’s path is both promising and fraught with challenges.

Despite the excitement among Democrats about Harris’s potential nomination, national polling averages suggest Trump holds a lead over her, particularly in key swing states. These leads, however, are narrower than those he held over Biden.

Prominent Democratic women are watching Harris’s rise with a mixture of hope and caution. Patti Solis Doyle, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, notes that Harris benefits from not having the same long-standing public scrutiny that Clinton endured. Doyle explained, “Clinton had been on the national political stage for more than a decade…You either loved Hillary Clinton or you hated Hillary Clinton and it was cemented.” In contrast, Harris, who has been on the national stage for a much shorter time, doesn’t carry the same burden.

However, Doyle acknowledges that Harris will still need to overcome voter biases that come with being a woman in politics. She remarked, “While we have come a long way, there is still work to do. It is 2024 and this country has not elected a woman president. I find that astonishing.”

Harris’s candidacy offers several unique advantages, particularly against Trump. Some of these advantages are demographic, such as her likely greater appeal to female voters. Others are issue-based, with Harris expected to emphasize Democratic arguments about reproductive rights. Moreover, as a Black, female former prosecutor, Harris is seen as uniquely positioned to challenge Trump, who has faced multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women, including a civil case last year where he was found liable for the sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll.

Yet, the possibility of a female president still evokes anxiety among some voters. While women have ascended to many powerful positions in politics, the presidency remains elusive. Beyond Clinton, other female candidates, including Harris herself and Senator Elizabeth Warren, fell short of expectations in the 2020 Democratic primary.

Observers anticipate a particularly harsh campaign ahead. Kristy Sheeler, a communication studies professor at Indiana University Indianapolis and author of “Woman President,” a book on political culture, predicts that the rhetoric will be “really ugly around gender and race.” Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky adds, “Having Harris as the nominee provides tremendous opportunity, and at the same time, it’s not a safe choice. We are still a very misogynistic country. Unlike Britain or India or Pakistan, the United States has never had a woman lead it.”

Republicans and conservatives, however, reject the idea that Harris’s gender should be a focal point. They argue that focusing on her gender is a form of identity politics and detracts from her ability to lead. Some in the GOP suggest that Harris’s race and gender have actually aided her career rather than hindered it, dismissing her rise as a result of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Former President Trump himself alluded to this during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago, inaccurately claiming that Harris only “happened to turn Black” recently.

Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, echoed this sentiment, stating, “Race and gender have nothing to do with why Kamala Harris is the most unpopular Vice President in history.” She criticized Harris for her performance as Border Czar and accused her of supporting Biden’s “disastrous policies,” while also accusing her of dishonesty regarding Biden’s cognitive abilities. Leavitt added, “She is weak, dishonest, and dangerously liberal.”

Leavitt also defended Trump’s treatment of women, asserting that the negative media portrayal of Trump in this regard is “entirely false.” She claimed that Trump is well-liked by millions of women and is known by those close to him as “supportive, generous, and kind.” In terms of policies, Leavitt pointed out that Trump’s first term was marked by efforts to uplift women economically and that he prioritized expanding childcare and paid family leave. She assured that in a second term, “President Trump will make America strong, safe, and prosperous again for all women.”

The complex dynamics surrounding female candidates in U.S. elections are undeniable. The 2016 election, for example, revealed surprising voting patterns, with exit polls showing that white women favored Trump over Clinton by a nine-point margin, despite the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape shortly before the election. Meanwhile, Black and Latino women largely supported Clinton.

When it comes to issues like abortion, the gap between male and female perspectives is not as wide as often portrayed. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted in June, which marked the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, found that 37 percent of women believed abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, compared to 43 percent of men who held the same belief.

As Harris prepares for the campaign ahead, Democrats, particularly women, are hopeful that she will be the one to finally shatter the glass ceiling. However, the road ahead is lined with obstacles, and she will need to overcome significant resistance to achieve this historic milestone.

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