Seeking a historic win, Harris faces a familiar foe: Sexism

LAS VEGAS — Standing in the searing Nevada heat at her job as a construction flagger shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race in July, 38-year-old Sarah White was skeptical: “I donâ€t think I would ever vote for a woman to be president,â€� she said bluntly. “Women are kinda all over the place.â€�

White, an independent, voted for Donald Trump in 2020 but misses the era when Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was president because “there was none of this chaos and scariness and people rioting.� She believes Trump, running again this year, is “brave� and would “fight to keep us safe� at a time when she is unnerved by the number of non-English-speaking immigrants entering the country.

But she cannot stomach Trumpâ€s divisiveness, his felonies and legal dramas, and feels “embarrassed for our countryâ€� when she hears him speak.

A woman working in a male-dominated industry, she nonetheless found herself struggling in a recent follow-up interview to envision how Harris would fare as the first female commander in chief. “She seems pretty tough. I donâ€t know, though, if sheâ€s breakable,â€� White said. “Women — we have emotions, we have compassion and we have all these other feelings that men donâ€t have. You know?â€�

Around the world, many other democratic countries, from those in Europe to South America to Asia, have elected women as leaders for decades. Yet 40 years after Geraldine Ferraro became the first female vice-presidential nominee of a major party and eight years after Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee of a major party, White and thousands of voters like her are grappling with the question that still bedevils the nearly 250-year-old nation: Is America ready and willing to elect a female president?

The answer, according to polling and more than two dozen interviews with voters, experts, campaign strategists and operatives, is yes — but. Yes, the country is open, in some cases even eager, to a elect a female president — but she faces myriad hurdles her male counterparts do not, and with far less room for error.

“My answer is yes, America will elect a woman,â€� said Christina Reynolds, senior vice president of communications for Emilyâ€s List, the influential political group that backs female candidates who support abortion rights. “But are there challenges they face? Yes, sure.â€�

An incomplete list of the common challenges: The likability tightrope — where a woman must constantly demonstrate she is strong enough to be commander in chief, but she canâ€t appear too tough for fear that she will come off as unlikable.

The résumé bar — where it is often enough for a male candidate to have potential, but his female counterpart must have already met hers.

The motherhood bias — where if a female candidate has young children, voters question how she will care for them while serving.

And the ethical pedestal — where women candidates are believed to be more honest and trustworthy than their male counterparts, but if theyâ€re knocked off the pedestal, itâ€s often harder for them to climb back up.

At the same time, Harris could also lose for any number of reasons having nothing to do with her gender — from being unable to shake unpopular policies of the Biden-Harris administration to the liberal positions she took in the 2020 primary to voters agreeing with Trumpâ€s dystopian portrait of America under Democratic governance. A loss could also be a mix of several factors — a rejection by some voters uncomfortable with her gender and by others opposed to her agenda.

The question of a female president is both a general one about progress and feminism, but also a specific one. Like Clinton in 2016, Harris is asking the nation not just to support a woman, but to affirmatively choose her — a Black and Indian American woman; a former prosecutor and attorney general and U.S. senator; a stepmom (“Momala�); a female politician with an unapologetic laugh; and the Democratic nominee for president who chose as her running mate a high-school-teacher-and-football-coach-turned-Midwest-governor Everyman named Tim Walz.

She is a woman, and she is also Kamala. If Harris does not win in November, it may be difficult to disentangle just how much voters were rejecting a woman as president vs. a particular woman as president, and just how much that distinction really matters.

In the eight years since Clinton unsuccessfully ran for president, the nation has changed, too. It witnessed a Womenâ€s March on Washington in 2017, the #MeToo reckoning and historic numbers of women being elected to higher office across the country. The 118th Congress features a record number of women — 25 senators and 126 House members for 151 total, or roughly 28 percent, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. And during the 2020 Democratic primary cycle, at least six women, including Harris, appeared on the debate stage at various points — the first time in U.S. history that more than one female candidate was onstage during a presidential debate.

But in interviews with The Washington Post and in focus groups, many voters expressed subconscious bias and outright sexism, worrying that a female president will be too emotional, or that she will be weak and get rolled by male leaders on the world stage. Some even said they couldnâ€t imagine handing the nuclear codes to someone who they fear may become moody while menstruating. Democrats say the challenge for Harris is real but hard to quantify.

Dean Johnson, 60, who works in heavy machinery in Las Vegas, said he thinks the United States is ready for a female president. “But not her — sheâ€s a puppet,â€� he said.

Asked what concerns heâ€d have about Harris as commander in chief, Johnson laughed: “She wonâ€t be the commander in chief, so I have nothing to worry about. Iâ€m telling you, it wonâ€t happen.â€�

Former president Barack Obama recently tackled the question of gender bias among Black men directly when campaigning for Harris in Pittsburgh. Saying he wanted to speak to “the brothersâ€� and “men directly,â€� he said some of the resistance to Harris “makes me think that … well, you just arenâ€t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and youâ€re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.â€�

The Trump campaign rejects the notion that Harrisâ€s gender is a factor in the election.

“This race has nothing to do with race and gender, and everything to do with contrasting track records of success and failure,� Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said. “Kamala Harris has failed on the economy, inflation, open border, and global chaos. Clearly, Kamala and her camp see the writing on the wall and are trying to lay the messaging groundwork ahead of her loss in November.�

And there are women like White, whose home state, Nevada, is among seven critical swing states that the Harris campaign is bombarding with ads. Though dismissive of Harris at first, the more White has listened to the vice president speak, the more she finds herself considering voting for her.

“Iâ€ve actually found I respect her,â€� White said over a recent lunch at a Carlâ€s Jr. after a construction shift in the 103-degree heat.

Harrisâ€s ads, White said, have directly spoken to her concerns about housing costs and how hard it is for Americans to build wealth.

“I do like the things that she stands for, and I like the way that she talks and carries herself,â€� White explained. But, she added, Harrisâ€s gender still worries her: “Are people going to respect her? Are people just going to think weâ€re a joke now?â€�

‘A manâ€s jobâ€

Political operatives say it is virtually impossible to quantify how much sexism or unconscious bias will factor into the outcome in November, in part because voters who hold those views are often reluctant to express them.

In January, Gallup found that 93 percent of Americans said they would vote for a well-qualified woman from their preferred political party, similar to the 92 percent who said this in 2015. This level has held steady since the 1980s, when 78 percent to 82 percent said they would support a qualified woman from their party.

But Americans are also more likely to see Harrisâ€s gender as an obstacle to being elected than they did eight years ago when asked the same question about Clinton, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted in mid-September. And 30 percent of registered voters said they believed Harrisâ€s gender will hurt her chances in November, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late August and early September. Forty percent said it would help and 30 percent said it would not make much difference.

Sexism also transcends political party, as well as the gender of the person expressing it. Earlier this year, during the Republican primary season, Sarah Longwell — an anti-Trump Republican strategist who runs weekly focus groups with voters — released an episode of her podcast featuring New Hampshire voters who had twice supported Trump, talking about whether they were open to voting for former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.

“I donâ€t feel as though a woman belongs in the presidential seat,â€� said one woman in the group, adding that women “think with our heart, mostly, over our mind, and thatâ€s not what we need right now.â€�

A male voter in the group was even more blunt, calling the presidency “a manâ€s job.â€� “Theyâ€ve got to make tough decisions that canâ€t have any emotions involved,â€� he said, adding with a chuckle that he wouldnâ€t want a female commander in chief in charge of the nuclear codes if sheâ€s “having a bad day, or that time of the month, or whatever.â€�

In many ways, itâ€s not surprising that some voters would express skepticism about a female candidate based solely on gender stereotypes. After all, women in nearly all fields have long grappled with misogyny and double standards.

Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to increase womenâ€s representation, said that in 25 years of research, her foundation has consistently identified several major hurdles for female candidates. First, she said, men are assumed to be qualified, whereas women have to repeatedly demonstrate that they are — while also trying to balance strength with likability.

“We say men can tell and women have to show,� Hunter said.

Harris has faced an onslaught of ads from outside groups and the Trump campaign portraying her as weak, ineffective and unserious. One notable new Trump ad shows fictional leaders from China, Russia, Hamas and Iran watching clips of Harris dancing on their television screens as ominous music plays in the background. “America doesnâ€t need another TikTok performer,â€� a narrator intones. “We need the strength that will protect us.â€�

Former senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said that, with Harris, she senses echoes of the question she was repeatedly asking about Obama in 2008: Was the nation ready for a Black president?

“It was interesting to me because so many of the people who were most doubtful if the country was ready were Black Americans, and the same thing is probably somewhat true now, that women are somewhat more skeptical about it finally being time than some of the men are,� said McCaskill, a Democrat.

Women are roughly equally divided on whether Harrisâ€s gender will help or hurt her, according to the Pew survey. Thirty-eight percent said it will help her with voters, 33 percent said it will hurt her and 29 percent said it will not matter much, the survey found.

Some women interviewed by The Post did indeed express skepticism about a female president. Diana Arvizu, 34, a real estate agent in Yuma, Ariz., said she just doesnâ€t believe women have the skills needed to run the country.

“A male should be the head of the home and of the family and of society,� she said. “It takes a really good man to really step up and be a good role model for society and to protect us and provide for us.�

Lynn LaVerdi, a 60-year-old lifelong Republican, brought up her opposition to a woman president unprompted while chatting with a Post reporter as she waited in line with her family to attend Trumpâ€s August rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. “I donâ€t think a woman should hold the presidency,â€� she said. “Women are more moody. … We get rights and stuff, but I wouldnâ€t want to be on the front lines in a war.â€�

LaVerdiâ€s niece, Alea Scarantino, was standing nearby in a shirt attacking Harris with a gendered slur: “Say No to the Hoe.â€� Scarantino, who is in her mid-30s, said she agreed that women should not be president. “When I sleep at night, I want a man running our country,â€� she said. “Men are stronger. Women are hormonal.â€�

Hunter said that “women are expected to hit the ground running. Everything has to be flawless, and if itâ€s not, people tend to use that as an excuse to say, ‘See, she wasnâ€t ready.†The standard is excellence.â€�

‘Why not us?â€

On the flip side, there are legions of voters — both women and men — who are thrilled at the prospect of electing the first woman president. Mark Stone, a 65-year-old magician from Summerlin, Nev., said that he has been regularly phone canvassing for the campaign and that none of the undecided voters he has called have raised the vice presidentâ€s gender as an issue.

“Old White guys have just not gotten the job done — including the current one,â€� Stone said as he waited in line at Harrisâ€s rally in Las Vegas. “If you ask somebody whoâ€s truly informed, theyâ€ll tell you that we need more women in government, because they seem to be the levelheaded ones. Less testosterone in government. Okay?â€�

Christian Bargados, a 50-year-old customer service representative from Clark County in Nevada, pointed to the example of other female leaders across the globe who have made tough decisions, including former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

“We have seen that this works across the world, so why not us?â€� he asked. “I think that this is a stupid, sexist point of view that once a month, sheâ€s not going to be able to make decisions. Please.â€�

Bargados was skeptical of Harris at first but said she inspired him during the Sept. 10 presidential debate with Trump. “As soon as Trump attacked her — like they said, she looked like she was ready to take off her earrings — and then I saw the real passion of this woman,� he said. “She knows that she needs to stand up for a country that needs her at this moment.�

A CBS News-YouGov poll conducted in early October found that for a quarter of women backing Harris, her gender is a part of their decision-making, while for 10 percent of men supporting Trump, the fact that Harris is a woman is a factor.

Unlike Clinton, Harris has deliberately steered away from playing up her gender and her potential to make history, instead letting surrogates and supporters gin up excitement about that prospect. Allies say this is particularly important for a female candidate, where they have to work harder to clear the “presidential� bar but also need to show a certain humility about it.

Many experts and operatives also say that Clintonâ€s failed bid nearly a decade ago is an inapt comparison for Harris.

John Anzalone, a Harris campaign adviser and pollster, who also worked on Clintonâ€s 2016 bid, said it would be a mistake to compare the women because they have different personalities and backgrounds.

“Hillary Clinton was a White woman who everyone knew and had a certain view on,� he said. “Kamala Harris is a Black and Indian American woman who people are getting to know at a different level, and those people who are still left are giving her a real look.�

Kelly Dittmar, an associate professor of political science who is the director of research at the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, said the impact of gender is complicated.

“We have no evidence that on Election Day gender is prohibitive for women, because people will vote primarily by party,� she said. “But it absolutely can shape how she has to navigate different hurdles and expectations on the campaign trail.�

To that end — and perhaps because she is facing a candidate who goes to great lengths to project a macho, strongman image — Harris has carefully walked the tightrope that other female candidates have long navigated.

She has sought to convey her toughness by speaking about the crimes she prosecuted as a district attorney and attorney general — noting during her debate with Trump that she was “the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings.�

She spoke at great length about foreign policy during her convention speech — promising that should would ensure America “has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.� And she has frequently said one of the dangers of putting Trump back in the White House is that he is easily flattered and manipulated by dictators — saying during the debate that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would eat you for lunch.�

During a recent forum with Oprah Winfrey, Winfrey said she was surprised to hear Harris owned a gun: “If somebody breaks in my house, theyâ€re getting shot,â€� Harris replied.

McCaskill, the former senator, said the challenges female candidates face are not easy, but they are also not insurmountable.

“Itâ€s an exhausting tightrope, but having said that, if youâ€ve been walking that tightrope for years and years, you get used to it and I think she has figured out that she can be herself,â€� she said.

‘I wouldnâ€t tell anybodyâ€

With 17 days left until the election, White, the Nevada construction worker, is still weighing her options, which include staying home on Election Day. Many people in her family, including her mother, are firmly backing Trump.

But little by little, Harris has been winning her over.

When asked how she would cast her ballot if the election was imminent, White said sheâ€d really have to think about it.

“Iâ€d probably vote for Kamala,â€� she said. “But I wouldnâ€t tell anybody that.â€�

Parker reported from Washington. Abbie Cheeseman, Hannah Knowles, Marianne LeVine, Lizette Ortega and Sabrina Rodriguez contributed to this report.