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 Half of U.S. women say they have a "very unfavorable" view of the
front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, according
to Reuters/Ipsos polling, up from the 40 percent who felt that way
in October. The survey was taken from March 1-15, and included 5,400
respondents.
The rise in anti-Trump sentiment among women could pose a problem
for the New York billionaire in his quest for the White House. Women
form just over half of the U.S. population, and they have turned out
at higher rates than men in every election since 1996, according to
the U.S. Census Bureau.
"If the presidential election were tomorrow, women would be a big
problem for Trump," Republican strategist David Carney said. "But he
has time to fix it."
A Trump campaign official did not immediately respond to a request
for comment, but Trump has said that he has had good relationships
with women in his business career and is well-liked by women voters.
 Several women who oppose Trump, interviewed by Reuters this week,
said their disapproval was based on a range of factors from his
disparaging comments about women he dislikes - such as Fox News host
Megyn Kelly - to his hard-line views on immigration and his ribald
exchanges with rivals.
"I think Trump is very scary," said Mariah Dobias, a 25-year-old
cook who was voting in Ohio's primary on Tuesday. "He says he is
going to make America great, but he doesn't say how he is going to
do it besides alienating whole groups of people."
Carolyn Hostetler, a conservative from Tennessee, told Reuters she
disliked "the way he has belittled women."
Some of Trump's female supporters, meanwhile, said they liked his
straight talk, and believe he could strengthen America's position on
the world stage.
"He's a little unpredictable, as we've seen," said Kathleen Douglas,
a 65-year-old college professor from Winter Park, Florida who
supports Trump. "He's going to put other world leaders on edge."
Trump does not have a similar image problem with men. The
Reuters/Ipsos polling results showed that just 36 percent of men
said they have a "very unfavorable" opinion of Trump, a level that
has held steady in recent months.
Republican women are also much more likely to approve of Trump,
according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Among women who identify as
Republican, he has been holding around 60 percent favorability since
the start of the year.
Trump's relative appeal among men versus women was evident in the
most recent round of nominating contests on Tuesday, when Trump
extended a broad lead over rivals.
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In Florida, exit polls conducted by Edison Research showed that
Trump's support among Republican women voters was 40 percent, versus
52 percent among males. In Ohio, where Trump came in second to the
state's governor, John Kasich, 33 percent of women voters backed
Trump, compared with 40 percent of men.
If the GOP frontrunner were to run against Democratic hopeful
Hillary Clinton in the general election, likely women voters would
support Clinton over Trump by nearly 14 percentage points, according
to the March polling data. Among men, Clinton would win by about 5
percentage points.
At a precinct in Florida's Winter Park, Darlene Monzadeh, a
52-year-old stay-at-home mom who had been a supporter of Jeb Bush,
said Trump lost her vote during a debate when he exchanged potshots
with his rivals.
"It changed my opinion. When they catfight all the time and act like
little boys, pointing fingers, raising voices," she said, adding she
now supports Kasich.
Trump has been accused by critics of misogyny since he launched his
campaign. He complained last year that Fox News host Megyn Kelly had
asked him tough questions in a debate and referred to "blood coming
out of her wherever." He more recently sent a Twitter post
suggesting she was a "bimbo."
He has called television personality Rosie O'Donnell a "fat pig" and
made fun of former presidential rival and ex-HP chief executive
Carly Fiorina's face, saying, "Would anyone vote for that?"
An anti-Trump attack ad launched by the Our Principles Super PAC
this week featured women repeating words that Trump has used to
describe women, including "fat pig" and "dog."
Several of his female supporters defended Trump against the ad on
social media.
(Additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Ohio, Amy Tennery in
New York, Barbara Liston in Florida, Colleen Jenkins in North
Carolina; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Alan Crosby)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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