In certain political circles, the idea of Republican and Independent women who still support former President Donald Trump is puzzling. Through the channels of certain progressive media outlets, the strategy for a 2024 potential presidential rematch begins by labeling Trump-supporting women most kindly as narcissists, followed by mentally ill and, in the extreme, indifferent to others of more enlightened countenance. More simply, women who believe in MAGA are a much maligned group.
But women who identify as MAGA aren’t so much about Trump. There is more to this story than progressives lobbing article after article in media outlets, whether they like it or not. Dig deeper; they may find it’s about living the Founding Fathers’ dreams for this Great Experiment in a Constitutional Republic.
Define a MAGA Woman
When progressives and many younger voters are asked, “What is a MAGA woman?” they often respond with “Karen.” They don’t seem to know how to describe more fully someone they believe is brainwashed by Trump. Demographically, exit polls show that in 2020, 55% of white women voted for Trump and polls suggest they plan on doing so again if he is the chosen GOP candidate. Traditionally, this group has voted Republican since the 1950s, and that trend has not budged much over the decades.
Soon after the 2020 election, the radical left media outlet The Cut spoke with a political science and gender studies professor at the University of Southern California, Jane Junn. In all seriousness, Junn described the women who voted for Trump like this:
“One reason is because of how they were politically socialized growing up — stuff they’ve heard at the dining-room or kitchen table for many years that makes them feel heroic and patriotic in casting their ballots for Trump. But part of it is wanting to stay on top of the racial hierarchy. These women have agreed to accept second-class status with their gender, as long as the Republican Party puts them first with race and keeps them safe.”
The most polite way to respond to that flawed theory is “Hogwash.” MAGA women are a diverse group of Hispanics, blacks, and all shades of pale. They are in all professional realms, including the most highly educated, the working class, and stay-at-home parents. To label one type of voter demeans the entire process of the vote women worked so hard to achieve a century prior. Junn further irritated with another random and non-fact-based premise: White women stand by what their man tells them to do in the voting booth. So conservative women have Stockholm syndrome? Really, now. But that begs the question as to why any progressive would want those silly Republican women in their camp anyway? Who even let them out of the house? And, what’s more, who slipped them a copy of the Constitution?
Heck, even Junn knows why: “We focus on them because they are the biggest slice of the electoral pie and are potentially a swing group. Who’s the 800-pound gorilla in American elections? White women. They make up almost 40 percent of voters.” So, will progressives try to court the American woman away from the Republican Party? Devolving into more name-calling, shame, or scare tactics won’t likely move the needle.
MAGA Without Trump
Donald Trump (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)
Despite a seven-year campaign against the former president, MAGA women will still vote for Trump. But that’s not the whole story; they will also vote for any candidate who wins the Republican primary and promises an America First agenda.
The field of GOP presidential primary candidates is growing, and 45 is not yet a done deal as Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and dark horse candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have all announced for the Big Show. So, what happens to the women left behind if (unlikely as it seems) Trump does not win the nomination?
Well, here’s a secret: MAGA gals did not vote for Trump because of his often brash personality. They did not wait in line to cast a ballot for a guy known to sometimes be crass in his public and private behavior, or because their husband or father told them to. Instead, they voted for the policies he campaigned on: freedom, national security, increasing the prosperity of a struggling nation, achieving energy independence, and becoming, once again, the greatest nation on earth.
Making America Great is a movement — not a moment. And voters of the fairer sex are quite ready, willing, and able to make their voices heard. Again.
