Vice President Kamala Harris has changed the face of the upcoming presidential election. She also seems to be the face of this year’s electorate.

Even before Harris accepted her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, polls showed that Harris’ candidacy was motivating large swathes of previously unenthusiastic Americans to turn out and, if trends continue, to vote. With her in the race, the electorate is likely to be younger, more female and more pro-abortion than it would have been with President Biden as the Democratic nominee, the polls show.

“Kamala Harris at the top of the ballot compared to Joe Biden at the top of the ballot represents a fundamental shift in overall motivation,” said Melissa Williams, executive director of a Super PAC for EMILY’s List, which recruits, trains and funds Democratic women who support abortion rights.

In the eight days after Biden withdrew from the race and passed the baton to Harris, people’s willingness to vote in five swing states rose by 42 percentage points, from 37 percent to 79 percent, according to a poll conducted for EMILY’s List and released during the party’s convention in Chicago.

The enthusiasm was even higher among women, especially those ages 18 to 44. When Biden was still in the race, only 33 percent of women and just 18 percent of those under 45 were motivated to vote. Since Democratic candidates need a strong showing from women to overcome Republicans’ traditional dominance among men, that did not bode well for the president’s re-election chances. When Harris replaced him as the likely nominee, women’s motivation to vote rose 49 percentage points to 82 percent, EMILY’s List reported. Among women under 45, meanwhile, there was a staggering 57 percentage point increase to 75 percent.

The same poll, conducted in the swing states of Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, found that Harris had already proven in the first week of her campaign that she has a far better chance than Biden of winning the votes of these newly motivated women.

“Polls show that women want to vote for a female candidate and that this is a factor that helps women in their voting decision,” said Kathy Spillar. MS. senior editor.

She performed 11 points better among women without losing a single vote among men.

Jill Normington

Fifty percent of female respondents said they would support Harris, compared to 39 percent who backed Biden before he dropped out in July. Again, Harris made the biggest gains among younger women. Just over half – 52 percent – of women under 45 said they would support her, compared to just 30 percent who backed Biden.

At the same time, Harris was able to maintain Biden’s support level of 37 percent among men. “Among women, she is 11 percentage points ahead without losing a single vote among men,” said Jill Normington, whose company conducted the poll.

“The gender gap is currently on steroids,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.

Harris benefits from her leadership on abortion rights, even if the majority of Americans don’t necessarily associate her with the issue yet. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of people who describe themselves as “strongly pro-choice” said in opinion polls that they would vote for the vice president, compared to 60 percent who said they would prefer Biden. “She’s a much better ambassador on one of the key issues of this election cycle,” Normington said.

Unlike previous national elections, the issue of abortion will play a major role in this presidential election. It is the first since the Supreme Court returned abortion decisions to the states two years ago. The candidates could not be more different.

Former President Trump glorifies his role in repealing Roe v. Wade by nominating three anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court. But most Republicans, who have long supported restricting or banning abortion, are shying away from the issue because it would likely cost them votes. A full 85 percent of respondents told Gallup in May that abortion should be legal in all or some circumstances, compared with 12 percent who said it should be illegal in all circumstances.

Harris and the entire Democratic Party position themselves as champions of women – the only group of Americans who have ever lost a constitutional right.

The party made abortion the focus of each of the four nights of its convention. In prime-time, speaker after speaker attacked Trump for failing women and girls. Elected officials and candidates pledged to fight to restore abortion rights across the country. And several women and their partners shared emotional, frightening, personal stories that illustrate the challenges and dangers posed by states that have banned or restricted abortion.

Like many Democratic women in attendance at Harris’ speech Thursday night, Pamela Castellana of Melbourne, Florida, was dressed head to toe in white suffragist dress. The only color in her outfit was the blue message on her white sash, which read: “VOTE FOR WOMEN.”

Castellana, the chairwoman of the Brevard County Democratic Party, believes the abortion campaign will “get more people from all parties to vote,” especially in states like Florida, where abortion initiatives are on the ballot.

“It will help the party that cares most about women’s choice over their health care, and that is the Democratic Party today,” she said.

Normington echoed that sentiment. Abortion is “the best thing we can say to voters. It’s the most persuasive,” she said. “It’s important in urban communities, in suburban communities, in rural communities, among voters at the oldest and youngest ends of the spectrum. It helps in the middle of the ideological spectrum and it helps our base.”

The Democratic Party’s base is made up of many groups, but it starts with women. In 2020, 57 percent of women and 45 percent of men voted for Biden, a 12 percentage point gender gap, according to post-election polls. (The numbers vary by poll, but are not significant.) Trump won the support of just 42 percent of women, but a majority (53 percent) of men.

In other words, women put Biden in office.

But not all women. Biden won over only 44 percent of white women, compared to 90 percent of black women and 69 percent of Latinas and Asian-American women.

This pattern has been around for decades. When Democrats win the presidency, it is usually because of their support among women.

Not only are women more likely to vote for the Democrats than men, they are also more likely to register and cast their votes.

And because women make up the majority of the population, they can exercise more power at the ballot box than men.

This article was produced in partnership with The Fuller Project, a nonprofit journalism organization that reports on global issues affecting women.

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