US presidential election: Harris’ campaign clip on women’s secret vote which pisses Trump off

“What happens in the voting booth stays in the voting booth.” In the final sprint of the electoral campaign in the United States, an advertisement in favor of the Democrats stirs up debates across the Atlantic. It features a woman choosing to vote for Kamala Harris in secret from her Trumpist husband.

In this 30-second clip, voiced by actress Julia Roberts, a couple arrives at the polling station. Their caps embroidered with patriotic symbols suggest that they are two supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump. But the wife finally checks 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 anything about it”says the voiceover, before the husband asks: “Did you make the right choice?” and his wife does not respond “Of course darling.”.

A “stupid” video, according to Donald Trump

This video aroused the fury of Republicans. Donald Trump criticized a commercial “stupid”asking: “Can you imagine a woman 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 like she was cheating on him“, while the former boss of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich judged that this video illustrated the “corruption” morality of the Democratic camp.

The Lincoln Project, a group founded by moderate conservatives, aired a similar spot that shows two men assuring with smirks that their wives will vote for Donald Trump. Then the camera shows that the two women opt for the Democratic candidate.

A very gendered election

This new controversy shows that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are fighting to the end for the slightest vote in the presidential election, perhaps the most indecisive that the United States has ever known. The Democrats thus seem to be banking on the mobilization of women in an ultra-tight race which could also be very gendered.

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, unprecedented, 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 Court supreme, and which the Democratic candidate vigorously defends.

Remember that your vote is a private matter.

Michelle Obama

More generally, the election sees a clash “a traditional and patriarchal vision of masculinity”carried by Donald Trump who presents himself as “protective” women, and a Kamala Harris whose message “is less aligned with stereotypical or traditional roles”explains Kelly Dittmar, professor of political science at Rutgers University, to AFP.

Former Republican parliamentarian Liz Cheney, aligned with Kamala Harris, openly bet on the “secret” vote for the Democrat. “There are going to be a 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.”she assured.

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“If you are a woman who lives with men who don’t listen to you or don’t value your opinion, remember that your vote is a private matter. Regardless of your partner’s political views, the choice belongs to you”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.