On Thursday, Donald Trump announced the addition of nine new members to his economic advisory council—eight of whom are women. The move comes after the GOP nominee’s original council, which he unveiled last week, was criticized for being exclusively male (Hillary Clinton also pointed out that the group included “six guys named Steve.”)
While Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks said in an email to Coins2Day, that it “was always [the campaign’s] intention to make additions and we will continue to expand the group,” some see the decision to bring on the new female council members as an attempt to woo back GOP women, many of whom have spoken out against Trump in recent weeks.
Just this week, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine wrote an editorial in The Washington Post explaining why she is not supporting Trump. Top Jeb Bush aide Sally Bradshaw and former Chris Christie advisor Maria Comella have also said publicly that they would not be supporting the Republican nominee.
In the business world, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman urged Republicans to reject Trump for the upcoming November presidential election and said that she will be voting for Hillary Clinton.
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If winning back female voters is indeed the goal, then it’s a worthy one: As of August 5th, Trump’s support among women is at one its lowest points since polling agency Morning Consult last October began asking women who they would vote for.
The picture looks rosier if you only consider Republican women, 78% of whom told Morning Consult that would vote for Trump as of August 5th. However, as noted by the New York Times, that’s far less support than the previous Republican nominees received from female GOP voters in the general election. In 2012, Mitt Romney won 93% of Republican women. John McCain won 89% in 2008, while George W. Bush received 93% of their votes in 2004.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, had the support of 47% of overall female voters and 85% of Democratic women in the August Morning Consult poll.
Interestingly, both candidates’ current polling numbers with women are pretty much on par with what they were prior to them becoming official party nominees.