Making a case to women

Trump female defenders go on offense

DES MOINES, IOWA >> The Trump campaign has a message for its female supporters: It’s time to come out of hiding.

“There’s a lot of people that are fearful of expressing their support, and I want you ladies to know it’s OK to have felt that way, but we need to move past that or the Democrats win,” said Tana Goertz, a Trump campaign adviser, at an Iowa “Women for Trump” event on Thursday.

The Iowa event, held in the back room of a barbecue joint in a Des Moines suburb, was one of more than a dozen in battleground states nationwide as part of a push to make the president’s case on the economy and train volunteers.

The move is a recognition of the president’s persistent deficit with women — an issue that has the potential to sink his chances for reelection. Over the course of his presidency and across public opinion polls, women have been consistently less

supportive of President Donald Trump than men have. Suburban women in particular rejected Republicans in the 2018 midterm by margins that set off alarms

for the party and the president.

Trump himself called into a gathering of hundreds in Tampa, Florida, and insisted, to cheers:

“We’re doing great with women, despite the fake news.”

But polling suggests his challenges persist. The most recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found just 30% of women approve of the way the president is doing his job, compared to 42% of men. Notably, there was no gap between Republican men and women — 80% of both groups said they approved of his job performance in the August poll.

At an event in Troy, Michigan, a Detroit suburb viewed as key contested territory, Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox acknowledged that Trump’s style is a turnoff for some female voters. But she told the audience of 100 women to focus instead on what Trump had accomplished during his first term.

“I get it. I say, ‘Listen, you never wonder what he thinks about people,’” she said. “Some people may not like what he says. But he delivers and has a very good track record of deliverables. And that’s what’s important. I try to get people focused on that, not the personality.”

In Iowa, Goertz listed a number of ways that she said women are benefiting from Trump’s presidency, including low unemployment, job creation and “safety” — and she said his immigration policy was a winner there.

“When I lay my head down at night, I want to know that my children are safe, that a terrorist is not going to come into our country,” she said.

Similar events were scheduled in 13 battleground states, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio. The events, led by surrogates including White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, sought to train attendees to be volunteers and what the campaign describes as “ambassadors” for the reelection effort. Among the women in attendance in Troy was Cara McAlister, a sales representative from the nearby suburb of Bloomfield Township. She said Trump’s 2016 candidacy inspired her to get more involved politically, and she became a GOP precinct delegate and canvassed door to door for him.

PAUL SANCYA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Lisa Mankiewicz sits in the audience during a training session for Women for Trump, An Evening to Empower, in Troy, Mich., Thursday. President Donald Trump’s campaign is rallying and training a corps of female defenders, mindful that Trump’s shaky standing with women could sink his hopes of reelection next year. Female surrogates and supporters fanned out across important battlegrounds Thursday in a high-profile push to make the president’s case on the economy and to train campaign volunteers.