Beyond abortion rights: Why did Kamala Harris lose women’s votes?

Donald Trump’s defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election has signalled women’s rights – specifically the right to an abortion – was less of a key issue than expected for voters.

This was the first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade court ruling, which ended a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for that 2022 verdict, which was made possible by his appointments of three conservative judges to the top court.

The Harris campaign made much of Trump’s stance on reproductive rights in a bid to woo female voters, particularly in the swing states. However, early national exit polls showed that Harris had won the support of 54 percent of women, lower than President Joe Biden did in 2020 when he had the support of 57 percent.

So what happened to the female vote?

Why was abortion expected to be significant in this election?

The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade in June 2022 was a huge turning point for women’s reproductive rights in the US and sparked a massive backlash from women’s rights and medical groups.

How did the candidates campaign on the issue of abortion?

Harris’s campaign focused on highlighting statements Trump has made about abortion.

For example, one advert that the Harris campaign ran close to the polls was titled Punishment, referencing a statement by Trump before the 2016 election in which he suggested women who try to obtain abortions should be punished.

However, in 2016, Trump moved back from this position, clarifying that any punishment would be for doctors performing the procedure, not women undergoing it.

On October 29 this year, Harris stated that Trump would “force states to monitor women’s pregnancies”. She urged listeners to “Google Project 2025 and read the plans for yourself”, referring to a conservative policy blueprint assembled by some of Trump’s supporters but which Trump has distanced himself from.

This claim by Harris was deemed false by PolitiFact, a fact-checking outlet.

Ultimately, while it is true that Trump and his Republican aides have been called out for making sexist remarks about women, Trump made up for it by strategically distancing himself from the notion of a federal abortion ban in the run-up to this election, stating he believed it should be for individual states to decide on laws about abortion.

Instead, he focused on rallying support among the working class by focusing on economic policy as the main thrust of his campaign.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, in 2022 said he supported a nationwide abortion ban. However, in July this year, Vance said he was aligned with Trump on the idea that abortion should be an issue that each state deals with.

If not abortion, what were women concerned with this election?

According to a survey of female voters conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and published on October 11, the top issue that emerged for women voters overall was inflation, including rising household expenses. More than one-third (36 percent) of respondents cited it as the most important issue.