Men vote Trump, women don't: this election is all about gender

KAMALA HARRIS had a stunningly successful convention beyond all expectations and yet the US presidential race remains too close to call. The result will come down to which party can maximise turnout.

- Sarah Baxter

Harris is energising women voters on a huge scale, drawn by the opportunity to elect the first female president and protect their abortion rights. This could prove to be her superpower at the ballot box. But could it provoke a backlash, with men delivering for Donald Trump in the battleground states?

I am getting strong Amber Heard versus Johnny Depp vibes about the impending political showdown. Then, the two actors existed in an Alice Through the Looking Glass world, where all logic was reversed. In a #MeToo backlash, Depp presented himself as the victim and won $15 million in damages from Heard after she claimed to have suffered domestic violence at his hands. Many women and men viewed the verdict through a totally different lens. Who will win the battle of the sexes in Harris versus Trump? The good news for Democrats is that women vote more consistently than men, by 52 to 48 per cent , according to the Brookings Institution.

Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, and her husband, Doug Emhoff, valiantly presented an image of masculinity at the Democratic convention last week that was comfortable in a supporting role. “That’s my dad!” — the tearful cry of pride by Gus Walz, a neuro-diverse 17-year-old, was mocked by conservatives on social media, but touched many hearts. Tina Brown, who has a 38-year-old son, Georgie, on the spectrum, wrote movingly in the New York Times: “I recognised him immediately as one of ‘ours’, a sweet, unfiltered, slightly bewildered-looking young man who wasn’t quite sure what was expected of him in this epic moment of political adulation.”