Gabbard’s Chance at a Hail Mary

With all other female candidates dropped, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is the last women standing in the 2020 presidential elections. The score is now 1 to 4 as Gabbard continues to compete with male nominees Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and William Weld with the male count being split 2 to 2 across the two parties.  What caused the other 5 female candidates to drop? Well according to leanin.org, “A majority of voters think it will be harder for a woman to win the 2020 presidential election. And 88% of voters who think this say it’s because “many Americans aren’t ready to elect a woman president” the articles goes on to add “This false belief may also influence how people vote: the less ready Democratic and Independent voters think other Americans are, the less likely they are to choose a woman as their top candidate” (2020). This very idea has led to a nation wide fear of “steal the vote”, a term that is used when people believe the votes of one candidate will take away from those of another candidate with similar views. A strong example of this are the accusations against Senator Elizabeth Warren that claim a vote for her distracts from votes that could go to Congressman Sanders.  “She tried to win very liberal voters from Sanders” (Bacon Jr., 2020). The “steal the vote” complex has placed heavy pressure on female candidates- multiple of them have even reported that they “face constant gender-based questions from Democratic voters about their electability” (Bacon Jr, 2020).

On Super Tuesday Gabbard received 2 delegates qualifying her to participate in the upcoming debate which requires at least 1 delegate to be won in the first 25 nomination contests held by the party, this was the case until the rule changed. The Friday following Super Tuesday the DNC came out with a new rule requiring participators in the next debate to hold at least 20% of delegates, which disqualified Gabbard. The congresswoman’s response to the new rule was “We just celebrated International Women's Day and the progress that women are making around the world, when it comes to actually making sure that – in this presidential primary – that the only woman candidate left in the race, the only woman of color, and the first female combat veteran ever to run for the presidency has a voice, the DNC and their corporate media partners say, 'No thanks. Actually, that's not what we want the American people hear” (Musto, 2020). So what should Gabbards next move be?

Funk Hinojosa and Piscopo’s  Women to the rescue: The gendered effects of public discontent on legislative nominations in Latin America provides an interesting option. According to the article, “Stereotypes of women as more honest, more trustworthy, and less associated with the traditional political elite can advantage women during moments when the public distrusts politicians or perceives high amounts of political corruption” the article goes on to add “We find that these stereotypes affect candidate nomination outcomes even after controlling for factors that previous research indicates matter for women’s nominations, such as electoral systems, quota laws, party ideology, and parties’ women friendliness” (page 10). To sum the article up, female candidates do face stereotypes but in time of high political corruptness these stereotypes can benefit the female nominees by making them appear as more trustworthy than their male colleagues. With Gabbard as the last women in the game, is it critical that she maximizes campaign efforts, this means playing her cards right.  

There is a lack of information and false media swarming the idea of corona virus at the moment. It is a serious matter that needs to be addressed immediately- yet large amounts of US citizens feel they lack information and help from authorities concerning the subject. In fact, over 50% of respondents polled answered that they disapproved of President Trump’s response to the virus, 39% reported that his reaction has made them less likely to vote for him as he runs for reelection (Lemon, 2020). Based on Funk hinojosa and Piscopo’s findings, people’s reactions to the way Trump has handled the news could pose as a hail mary for Gabbard who has already jumped at the opportunity to take a stab at Trump’s campaign by telling the president that he should “redirect our taxpayer dollars towards really serving the very urgent pressing needs that the American people here at home all across the country are very concerned about. Things like the coronavirus, for example” (Musto, 2020). As the last female candidate standing, it is vital that Gabbard organizes her campaign as strategically as possible, this includes using her gender to her advantage in this desperate time of need. 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-warren-couldnt-win/

lhttps://www.foxnews.com/media/tulsi-gabbard-blasts-dnc-media-presidential-debate https://leanin.org/data-about-gender-bias-and-electability-in-the-2020-election

https://www.newsweek.com/majority-americans-disapprove-trumps-response-coronavirus-outbreak-poll-shows-1491200