An election fueled by misogyny

For most of the state’s history, race was the primary axis of North Carolina politics. This remains the case. White racism drives voting behavior among whites and inspires African Americans to defend their interests by voting for the party historically associated with the Civil Rights struggle. But in 2024, another form of bigotry has come to dominate the political battle in our state. This is the misogyny election.

That the 2024 election would be defined by bigoted men’s hatred of women was predetermined by whom the Republicans nominated for top offices. Donald Trump’s record of abusing women is as lengthy as his long life. He has been found liable for sexual assault—the judge would have called it rape if not for New York’s perverse legal definition of the offense—and he has called prominent women “pigs” and “disgusting animals.” All this vile misogyny endeared him to right-wing men. And one spot lower on the ballot, the imposing, hypermasculine Mark Robinson entered the governor’s race after years of bellowing misogynistic abuse from church pulpits and the studios and right-wing infotainment outlets.

North Carolina voters have reacted to the Toxic Masculinity Ticket according to their sentiments about the rights of women. Regrettably, most men have aligned themselves with Donald Trump. This male solidarity, concentrated among whites who did not attain a college education, is the basis of the emotional bond and fierce loyalty Trump come to command from downscale white men in our red-leaning state. Mark Robinson is running far behind Trump among both men and women, but male voters, if not sympathetic to then at least willing to tolerate the Greensboro Bomber’s degeneracy, are more supportive of this disgraced pretender than their female peers. The gender gap is likely to be chasmic in this year of misogyny.

Sexist stereotypes are shaping the dynamics of the presidential race in North Carolina. In a recent poll, High Point University found that NC voters perceive the two major candidates according to shopworn cliches about men and women. Donald Trump prevails over Harris in the categories of Standing Up to America’s Enemies, Being a Strong Leader, and Fighting Crime. All of these advantages stem entirely from gender stereotypes. Donald Trump is a convicted felon whom voters see as superior in fighting crime. He worships brutal dictators in China, Russia, and North Korea but supposedly has the virility to stand tall on the global stage. He is experiencing  serious mental deterioration but is somehow seen as a “strong leader.”

In the early decades of the two-party era, female North Carolina candidates had a strong advantage in elections when they ran against men. Elaine Marshall broke the first glass ceiling by beating macho (and unqualified) NASCAR driver Richard Petty to become state Secretary of State. Elizabeth Dole briefly became something of an icon among the state’s women and soundly defeated Erskine Bowles, a formidable Democrat. It speaks to the profound deterioration of our civic culture that a state that has traditionally loved to elect women to statewide office now prefers a rapist to a female prosecutor on issues related to responsibility and public order. Too many North Carolinians, men in particular, have a lot to contemplate about what they stand for and what their values are.