Information from NBC News Exit polls in 10 key states As of 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, the candidates had wide gender gaps: among men, who made up 47% of the electorate, Harris won 42% of the vote, while Trump won 55%. Among women, who make up 53% of voters, 53% voted for Harris and 45% for Trump.
The gender gap broken down by race and education showed in some cases wider divisions: 91% of black women voted for Harris, compared to 7% who voted for Trump, and 57% of college-educated white women voted against Harris. 41% voted for Trump.
But only 35% of non-college white women voted for Harris, compared to 63% who voted for Trump.
“There’s this education gap that’s becoming more pronounced in terms of voting behavior in this country,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research, who conducted NBC News’ final pre-election poll with Republican Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. . “Yes, abortion is really, really key to the election, but when you look especially at white women and white women without a college education, inflation, cost of living, and other issues dilute her margin with those voters.”
In the exit poll, a majority of voters — 65% — said they supported legalizing abortion, and 93% of all voters said they trusted Harris more to deal with abortion, compared to only 5% who trusted Trump. But only 14% of voters, when asked to choose among five issues, said abortion was most important to their vote. The economy was the most pressing issue for most voters, with 32% putting it first.
Harris is the second woman Trump has defeated in the presidential race. That doesn’t mean Americans aren’t ready for a woman president, Walsh said, noting that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016.
But, he added, Harris faces an uphill battle, especially since he has had little time to present his position on all the issues since Biden announced his exit.
“When a woman of color runs for this job, it completely upends all stereotypes about who can lead, and she had less than 200 days to do it,” he said.