“What happens in the voting booth stays in the voting booth. » In the final sprint of the electoral campaign in the United States, it made noise, this advert featuring a woman who votes for Kamala Harris in secret from her Trumpist husband.
In this thirty-second clip, to which actress Julia Roberts lends her voice, a couple arrives at the polling station. Their caps embroidered with patriotic symbols suggest that these are two supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump. But the wife ticks the “Kamala Harris” box, after exchanging a knowing look with another woman, over the cardboard screen that hides each voting station. “No one will know,” the voiceover says, before the husband asks: “Did you make the right choice?” » and his wife responds: “Of course darling”.
Donald Trump criticized “stupid” spot
This advertisement financed by a religious group aroused the fury of the opposing camp. Donald Trump criticized the spot as “stupid”, and asked: “Can you imagine a wife who doesn't tell her husband who she's voting for?” » On the Fox News channel, popular with conservatives, a star presenter said that if his partner secretly voted for Kamala Harris, “it would be as if she was cheating on him”, while the former boss of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich judged that this video illustrated the moral “corruption” of the Democratic camp.
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The Lincoln Project, a group founded by moderate conservatives, broadcast a similar spot showing two men, in bourgeois attire, who assure with little satisfied smiles that their wives will vote for Donald Trump. Then the camera shows that the two women vote for the Democratic candidate.
These videos, and the furious reaction of Trumpists, illustrate two characteristics of this campaign. First, that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are really fighting for every single vote in perhaps the most indecisive presidential race the United States has ever known. Then, that the Democratic candidate focuses on mobilizing women in an ultra-tight race which could see voters diverge like never before.
A “gender gap” of 34 points, unheard of
According to the latest tally made public by NBC, Kamala Harris has a 16-point lead in women's voting intentions, and Donald Trump has an 18-point lead in men's voting intentions. This cumulative difference or “gender gap” of 34 points, never seen before, testifies to the very strong importance in the campaign of the right to abortion, called into question in around twenty conservative states with the blessing of the Supreme Court , and which the Democratic candidate vigorously defends.
More generally, the election sees “a traditional and patriarchal vision of masculinity” clash, carried by a Donald Trump who presents himself as a “protector” of women, and a Kamala Harris whose message “is less aligned with stereotypical or traditional roles,” says Kelly Dittmar, professor of political science at Rutgers University. Former Republican parliamentarian Liz Cheney, aligned with Kamala Harris, openly bet on the “secret” vote for the Democrat. “There are going to be a certain number of women and men who are going to go to the polls and vote in conscience and vote for Vice President Harris. They will never say it publicly but the results will speak for themselves,” assured the daughter of the former vice-president of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney.
Without saying a word to his Trumpist friends
“If you are a woman living with men who don't listen to you or value your opinion, remember that your vote is a private matter. Regardless of your partner's political views, the choice is yours,” former first lady Michelle Obama also said recently.
The quest for the “secret” vote by the Harris camp does not stop at women. The group that financed the ad narrated by Julia Roberts released another, this time featuring a voter who chooses the vice-president without saying a word to his Trumpist friends, with another star, George Clooney, as narrator.
