A woman can’t beat Trump? It’s a myth

And at least now we’re talking about it

The final Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses featured a tense exchange between Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren about a subject that has churned under the surface since Donald Trump’s victory: Is America willing to elect a woman president?

In a 2018 private meeting, according to Warren, she told Sanders she thought a woman could win against Trump, and “he disagreed.” On the debate stage Tuesday, Sanders denied he said this and forcefully asserted that a woman could win. Warren stood by her account but said, “I am not here to try to fight with Bernie.” Instead, she noted that only the women on the stage — herself and Sen. Amy Klobuchar — had won every election they had ever run in.

Regardless of what Sanders might have meant or said, the episode has served a vital purpose. Finally, the quiet parts have been said out loud, and the insidious narrative that a woman is unelectable can be tackled head on.

Every woman who follows Democratic politics knows there are pervasive doubts that a woman can beat Trump. Since 2016, party sages and pundits have implied, of course, they also would love to see a woman president, but the stakes in 2020 are too high to risk it. The unfortunate truth, so they claim, is that a woman can’t win back the white working- class men who defected to Trump. And without those voters, Democrats will lose.

Yet women do win, particularly since Trump’s election. In the 2018 midterm elections, a record number and diversity of Democratic women ran and won. Democratic women flipped 24 Republican- held House seats and two Senate seats. Democratic women picked up four governorships — in the purple and red states of Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Kansas.

Strong record against Trump

Since 2016, Democrats have taken control of nine state legislative chambers, with women candidates often leading the charge. Indeed, in 2018 Democratic women had the highest win rate, at nearly 28%, among all U. S. House nonincumbents.

These women candidates helped inspire a national surge of participation, particularly from young people, nonwhites and women. Turnout reached record levels. Women voters were especially critical to the 2018 Democratic victories of both women and men, and women activists were the driving force behind the wins. Most important, the midterms saw a sharp swing in favor of Democrats among suburban and college- educated white women.

Given the recent record of women’s mobilization and the success of female candidates, nominating a woman would put Democrats in a strong position to defeat Trump.

Women certainly vote for men — how else to explain America’s dramatic underrepresentation of women in government? But Democratic- leaning women are eager to see more women in leadership in politics. Survey after survey shows the majority of women disturbed by the treatment of women in U. S. society. Women disapprove of Trump by a 20- point margin.

Women could make up more than 60% of the Democratic primary electorate this year, and women typically vote in greater numbers in general elections. A woman nominee would likely turbocharge enthusiasm among the largest group most committed to ending Trump’s presidency.

Worse than being a woman

Granted, there are American voters who show above average levels of sexism who might reject a woman nominee. A large share of Trump’s voters, including those who switched from Barack Obama to Trump, expressed sexist views in surveys in 2016 and 2018. But other views they hold, and their strong approval of Trump, give little indication that they are swing voters who would vote for any Democrat, man or woman. For example, among voters who shifted from Obama to Trump, a 2018 survey showed that 57% say “illegal immigrants” are a “drain” on American society, and that 63% favor banning Muslims from entering the United States.

Meanwhile, we’ve overlearned some lessons of 2016 while ignoring other types of liabilities. Sanders would seem to be a bad bet, given that 72% of voters have reservations or are very uncomfortable with a socialist for president. The persistence of anti- establishment populist anger should raise alarms that Joe Biden, elected to the Senate nearly a half- century ago, could be headed for the same fate as Hillary Clinton. Roughly 6 out of 10 voters also have reservations about someone older than 75.

Warren and Klobuchar are qualified, experienced, intelligent and accomplished. They represent the spectrum of the party ideologically. They’ve proposed thoughtful solutions to the nation’s problems and mapped plausible paths to victory in a general election. Both would make excellent presidents.

Many voters, of course, will prefer one of the men, for legitimate reasons untainted by sexism. But fear that a woman will lose should not be one of them. Vote your values. Vote your conscience. Vote your policy preferences. And have no fear, a woman can win. WANT TO COMMENT? Have Your Say at letters@ usatoday. com, @ usatodayopinion on Twitter and facebook. com/ usatodayopinion. Comments are edited for length and clarity. Content submitted to USA TODAY may appear in print, digital or other forms. For letters, include name, address and phone number. Letters may be mailed to 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA, 22108.