Did women vote for Trump in 2024?
Executive summary
Yes—women did vote for Donald Trump in 2024, though most national surveys and exit polls show that a plurality or small majority of women backed Kamala Harris overall; depending on the source, women favored Harris by roughly 6 to 10 points while substantial shares of women—often 40–45% nationally and majorities of white women—voted for Trump [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the headline numbers say about women and Trump
National exit polls and post‑election surveys paint a consistent headline: women as a group leaned toward the Democratic nominee, with Edison exit polling showing 45% of women supported Trump versus 55% of men (a ten‑point gender gap) and Navigator’s post‑election survey reporting women favored Harris 51% to 45% for Trump (a six‑point Democratic advantage) [3] [1]. Statista’s compilation of exit polls likewise notes a roughly ten‑point gender gap and concludes a majority of female voters picked Harris while most male voters picked Trump [2]. Multiple outlets therefore framed 2024 as continuing the modern pattern of a gender gap that benefits the Democratic presidential candidate even as Trump won the election [3] [2].
2. But many women—especially white women—voted for Trump
The apparent paradox—Harris winning women overall while Trump still drew large numbers of female supporters—resolves when one slices by race and education: CAWP and AP VoteCast evidence show white women disproportionately supported Trump, with white women’s support for Trump in 2024 estimated between about 52% and 55%, similar to his performance with that group in prior cycles [4] [5]. AP also reported that Trump “held steady” among white women, with slightly more than half supporting him [5]. In short, while women as an aggregate leaned Democratic, a large and pivotal subset of women provided reliable Republican votes [4] [5].
3. Variation across communities, ages and education levels
The women’s vote was far from monolithic: college‑educated white women moved further toward Democrats, while non‑college white women and white evangelical women remained core Trump supporters [4] [3]. Community‑level analyses from the American Communities Project show the gender gap varied widely—small in strongly social‑conservative places like Evangelical Hubs and larger in Exurbs and Hispanic Centers—underscoring that local culture, education and issue priorities colored women’s choices [6]. Navigator and Pew analyses also document age and racial shifts—young women and many women of color favored Harris, but Trump improved his standing with Hispanic and some Black voters relative to 2020, narrowing certain gender splits in specific groups [1] [7].
4. Why some women backed Trump: issues, turnout and coalition gains
Analysts attribute Trump’s female support to several dynamics: issue salience such as economic concerns and conservative social values in some communities, targeted inroads with Hispanic and rural voters, and differential turnout patterns that amplified Republican‑leaning segments [6] [8] [7]. Coverage from Fortune and AP notes modest gains among women and communities that historically leaned Democratic, while Brookings and other pre‑election work warned that even small gender gaps interacting with turnout could tip competitive states [8] [5] [9].
5. Limits, measurement differences and caveats
Different surveys and exit polls use distinct methods and weighting, producing variation in margins: Edison exit polls, AP‑NORC VoteCast, post‑election panels like Navigator, and later validated analyses such as Pew can report slightly different splits [3] [1] [7]. Some reporting described exit polling as preliminary; the Census CPS Voting Supplement offers a broader demographic portrait but is structured differently from instant exit polls, limiting one‑to‑one comparisons [10]. Thus, while the direction of the gender gap is robust across sources, precise percentages vary by poll and by post‑hoc validation [3] [1] [10].
6. Bottom line
Women did not vote uniformly; a plurality or slim majority of women nationally supported Kamala Harris, yet millions of women—especially white, non‑college and evangelical women—voted for Donald Trump, with white women’s support for Trump estimated in the low‑to‑mid 50s and national female support for Trump around the mid‑40s across major surveys [4] [3] [1]. The story of 2024’s women’s vote is therefore one of internal division and regional variation: women helped Democrats in aggregate but also supplied a substantial and decisive bloc for Trump in the states that mattered [2] [7] [6].