Jill Biden emphasized women during a campaign stop in Macon. Could it win the White House?

As the presidential election reaches its final days, first lady Jill Biden made a stop in Macon Saturday afternoon to campaign on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

While the first lady’s remarks were wide-ranging — including repeating Harris’ promise to lower costs for the middle class and criticizing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric — Biden especially focused on one critical group: women.

Data shows that a significant gender gap has arisen this election, with women significantly more likely to support Harris over Trump than men. The Harris campaign has sought to capitalize on this divide, with Biden putting a spotlight on abortion rights during her visit to Macon.

“No one has to abandon their faith and deeply held beliefs to agree that the government shouldn’t be telling women what to do,” Biden said.

By speaking directly to women, the campaign hopes to turn out an important group in Georgia on Election Day and propel Harris and Walz to the White House.

Mind the gap

According to data from an ABC News poll, Harris has a 14-point lead over Trump among women, with 56% of likely female voters supporting the vice president. By comparison, Trump has a six-point lead among male voters.

That’s a wider gap than the 2020 election, where Biden led Trump among female voters by 11 points, according to the Pew Research Center.

While it’s hard to explain with data alone why women are supporting Harris at such a high rate, experts guess they have chosen her because of her stance on abortion rights.

In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that generally protected women’s rights to an abortion. Three of the five justices who voted to overturn the decision were appointed by Trump.

Since then, 13 states have fully banned abortion, six have a gestational limit between six and 12 weeks and five have a gestational limit between 15 and 22 weeks, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

While Donald Trump hasn’t made his views on abortion very clear, in the past he has said he would allow states to determine laws surrounding abortion. Harris has expressed a commitment to codifying abortion rights into law if elected.

‘It takes a woman’

While Jill Biden’s Macon appearance drew a diverse crowd, it was obvious that women dominated the attendance.

Donna Williams, who came to see the first lady speak, said that as a woman who remembers when Roe v. Wade was first handed down, it hurts to see abortion rights under threat. Voting to protect them is a major priority for her this election.

“(Harris) wants to go forward,” Williams said. “For those who came up when birth control came out, when Roe v. Wade came out of the Supreme Court, we cannot believe the Republican Party is trying to take us back to the 1950s.”

Sabrina Ellis-Friday, the executive director of a local charity called the Mother’s Nest that focuses on helping women living in poverty, said abortion rights are especially crucial to poor women.

“They need to have their choices,” Ellis-Friday said. “They’re already in the lower class, so at least give them something to hold onto, so that they have a decision.”

According to a study by the University of California San Francisco, women who were denied an abortion were more likely to live in poverty in subsequent years.

However, Ellis-Friday also said she would like to see greater support for poor women from Harris’ campaign platform. She hoped to learn more about what the vice president could do for America’s poorest citizens if elected.

“The message has been all about the higher class and the middle class,” Ellis-Friday said. “I just want to hear some messages about the lower class, the people that I represent.”

Elsie Stephens, another attendee, said she thinks women can see themselves and feel truly represented by Harris.

“It takes a woman to understand another woman,” Stephens said. “She knows the feelings of women and how we have been suppressed for so many years.”

Could women decide the election?

While Election Day isn’t until Tuesday, early voting numbers show women have gone to the polls at higher rates than men.

In Georgia — which polls currently show is tied between Harris and Trump — 56% of people who have already voted are women, while just under 44% are men, according to data from the Georgia Secretary of State.

While it’s unclear how Georgia women are voting, Democrats, including Jill Biden, are hopeful that emphasizing women and encouraging turnout will provide a path to win Georgia and, by extension, the White House.

“We have to work harder than we ever have before, we have to push further than we’ve pushed in the past,” Jill Biden said. “We have to meet this moment as if our democracy is on the line, because it is.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2024 at 7:32 PM.