In the 2020 primaries, no one quibbled with Klobuchar, Harris, Gillibrand, or Warren’s credentials. They just said there was something about them that didn’t quite sit right.
by Ali Vitali is part election post-mortem, part professional reflection about the media’s role covering female candidates, part personal memoir, and part prescription for the future.
Why? Vitali posits a few reasons why Democratic voters overwhelmingly concluded a woman couldn’t win in 2020 and then she backs it up with hard-won data. First, the standards voters use to evaluate candidates are not applied evenly to men and women. Which sounds a bit like a “duh” statement, but the real-life examples Vitali provides smack the reader in the face.
Democratic White House hopeful Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks to her supporters during a campaign rally on the eve of the California Democratic Primary in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles, California on March 2, 2020The tricky roles of ambition and emotion also played a sizable role behind the women candidates’ disappointing finish in 2020. In the Early Republic, politicians weren’t supposed to campaign.
When not dodging accusations of inappropriate ambition, female candidates must find the right balance between coldness and emotional. For women, tears are dangerous because they imply weakness, and anger implies a lack of control. For men, anger is powerful. Biden’s best moments as a candidate are when he harnesses righteous anger.
And finally, there is the physical element of campaigning. Of course, it matters. Vitali shares a story of talking to a couple in Iowa. The husband was leaning toward Bernie Sanders and the wife preferred Elizabeth Warren. During their conversation, the husband criticized Warren’s appearance. Outraged, the wife noted Sander’s scruffy hair and the fact that it was never held against him.
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