CBS News Harris-Trump poll takes a closer look at gender gap as Trump and Harris tie

With an election-defining gender gap now believed to be the widest this year, an already close presidential race Things have gotten even closer between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

But the difference in the male-female vote in the 2024 election is more than just cross-tabulations on a polling record. They reflect divergent views on larger social issues such as gender equality in the United States. Moreover, they note differences in how the candidates are perceived, with more women saying only Harris has the cognitive health to serve and more men thinking Trump would be a “strong man.” leader”.

Here’s one example. Men are more likely to talk about US promotion efforts floor Equality has gone too far lately. When they do, they vote overwhelmingly for Trump.

Women are more likely to say these efforts have not gone far enough. Voters who say this are overwhelmingly supportive. Harris.

Regarding this candidate assessment: Women are a full 10 points more likely than men to say that only Kamala Harris has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, while Trump does not.

Men are less likely than women to think Harris will be a strong leader.

However, a large majority of men believe Trump will be a strong leader.

For both men and women who think Harris will be a strong leader, a quarter think so. because she is a woman. For those who think Harris there won’t be to be a strong leader, almost one in five say this is at least partly because they are a woman.

Overall, this leads to equal – and even fiercer – competition. Collectively, this applies to all battleground states, and Harris is just a +1 in the national preference. (Harris was +3 in battleground states at one point in September, and that narrowed to +1 two weeks ago. Trump is slowly erasing the 4-point national lead Harris had since their debate.)

IN individual CBS scores from specific battlefieldsit is also effectively connected. For context: In recent history, Democrats have needed a broader national lead in the polls to imply a competitive chance of winning the Electoral College in battleground states, because many of their national votes have come from larger, safer blue coastal states. But this year, at least for now, we see a different picture, in which the battlefields are closer to the national ones.

Solving the problems of men and women

Overall, voters say women face more discrimination than men today, and women are especially likely to say so. But men who think men face at least some discrimination (and half of them do) vote for Trump. Women who think women face discrimination put Harris down.

There is also a gender gap in who thinks the campaign is getting attention.

Most men think Trump pays enough attention to men’s issues, but many think Harris pays too little attention.

Women, on the other hand, say Harris pays enough attention to women’s issues, but I don’t think Trump does.

A significant 4 in 10 women think the Trump campaign places too much emphasis on men.

But the percentage who say the US is “ready to elect a black woman president” has risen, and that majority includes people who vote for Harris and many who don’t.

Management Approaches

There’s a lot of talk in this campaign about How candidates can lead as president and not just on policy issues. And here we see differences by age, some by gender, but largely by party.

When asked how best to solve America’s problems, voters largely call for cross-party cooperation. Some – often more ideological – believe that it would be best to have one party running the government.

Trump voters are twice as likely as Harris voters to call for “one strong leader who will do what they think is best.”

Younger voters—and especially younger men—are comparatively more likely to say the country needs this.

Trump continues to win votes from people who believe the US political system needs to be completely overhauled.

The economy – and how it still supports Trump

The potentially good news for Harris is that people say they judge her more on her own economic plans than on the Biden administration’s economic record.

She cut him some slack on who could improve people’s financial situation.

But that lead remains nonetheless, and she has stalled in efforts to narrow Trump’s lead with voters who say the economy is a major factor for them.

The vast majority continue to say they remember Trump’s economy as good, so Harris hasn’t caused voters to reconsider or rethink those memories.

People disagree about whether Trump’s policies have helped them financially during the pandemic, and that’s cutting into the vote.

A few notes on what’s changed since Harris had a bigger lead last month:

Perhaps one of the biggest indicators of why this race remains so close: Harris does well when people see abortion as a major issue, especially among women who think so. And this is a serious issue for half, but she failed during the campaign to get many more voters to rate this as a major issue. For those who call it a major factor, it hovers in the 50s range.

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The CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted using a representative sample of 2,161 registered voters nationwide surveyed between October 23 and 25, 2024. The sample was weighted by gender, age, race, and education using data from the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey. Current U.S. Census Population Survey as well as past polls. Respondents were selected from registered voters nationwide. The margin of error for registered voters is ±2.6 points. The battlegrounds are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.