The crisis that led to the 2018 election

Women are more trustworthy and honest than men. This statement may be true or false, but it does not matter; the only thing that matters is how the public perceives women versus men. The perceptions of the electorate, specifically the Democratic party, on the presidency of Donald Trump have led to more women politicians. This transition to more women in politics comes because members of the electorate view Trump's presidency as a crisis for America, and therefore view women as the saving grace of America.

The 2016 election and Donald Trump leading the United States of America are seen as a crisis for at least a portion of the American electorate. Hillary Clinton highlighted this crisis when she said, "our democratic institutions and traditions are under siege.... and right now, our democracy is in crisis." The political elite, such as Hilary Clinton, is not the only one that opines that America is in a crisis but also almost all of the Democratic party and other members of the electorate. Donald Trump winning the election and his subsequent policies while in office have led the Democratic party to perceive the country in a state of distress. The time between the 2016 election and the 2018 election and the results of that election show this crisis.

First, the American electorate showed their distress from 2016 to 2018. During this period, the approval rating of the president among democrats ranged from five to thirteen percent approval. Immediately preceding the 2018 election, the president had a five percent approval rate. In a similar poll, Gallup found that in September of 2018, thirty-seven percent of people did not trust in the executive branch at all, the highest in recorded history. In a third source, Pew shows that during 2018 only eighteen percent of the public trusts the government. These different polls show that there was mistrust in the government, and the country viewed their electorates as flawed. The constituency saw the country in crisis. These perceptions of the government by the public and especially the Democratic party lead to a political uprising in the 2018 elections.

In their article Funk, Hinojosa, and Piscopo analyze past crises and conclude that during those times, the electorate and selectorate have chosen to elect more women. The perceived crises have led to more women in government because of gender stereotypes. These periods of crisis lead to more women in politics because the public does not trust the government and views politicians, as corrupt. This corruption leads to more women because the gender stereotypes of women say that women are more honest and trustworthy. Before the 2018 election forty-four, percent of Americans saw the government as corrupt up eight percentage points from 2016. The perceived corruption in the United States led to more women being elected in 2018 to combat dishonesty.

The conclusions made by funk et al. are relevant to the 2018 election in the United States because the crisis led to a substantial increase in women elected to office across the United States. The electorate saw the problem and reacted as predicted. More than 250 women were on the ballots during the 2018 primary election, and 117 women were elected and sent to congress. The change of more women leaders in that election led to females making up about forty percent of Democrats in congress. The Democrats increased more in their female leadership because they perceived Donald Trump as an undeniable problem; thirty-three percent of voters even used their vote to signal explicit opposition of Trump. Whereas the Republican party did not vote in as many women for various reasons, but one reason could be that they did not view the president as dishonest and corrupt. The Democratic electorate viewed Donald Trump as a threat to democracy and different ideals that they hold dear, and because of that, they elected more women into office to combat the established officials.