High-profile Democrats lean into guilt in pursuit of male voters on abortion

High-profile Democrats in the home stretch of the presidential race are laying down a guilt trip on male voters: Vote for Vice President Harris and abortion rights, or you are letting down your mothers, sisters and daughters.

No less than former President Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz have rolled out variations of this theme in the past few weeks as they seek to reinforce a strength of Harris’s, abortion rights, while addressing a weakness — her lack of support from men of all races and ages.

Michelle Obama called out “the men who love us” in a New York Times op-ed on Monday, outlining that “your girlfriend could be the one in legal jeopardy if she needs a pill from out-of-state or overseas,” and “your wife and mother could be the ones at higher risk of dying from undiagnosed cervical cancer because they have no access to regular gynecological care.”

“Your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she’s bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy,” she added. “Your niece could be the one miscarrying in her bathtub after the hospital turned her away.”

Former President Obama earlier this month invoked his own guilt trip on Black men, suggesting at a rally that Black men aren’t supporting Harris like they supported him because they “just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.”

At the time, some leaders found his comments belittling and a bad message.

Similarly, while high-profile Democrats are trying to reach undecided and moderate men by focusing on a guilty trip on abortion rights, some Republicans find it insulting.

“I would say it's offensive because men certainly love their moms and their wives and their aunts and their grandmas, right? A lot of men… they're making decisions around a couple of key things,” said GOP lobbyist Marc Lampkin, former deputy campaign manager for former President George W. Bush.

“I think instead of finger wagging, instead of guilting people, I think a better strategy … would be one that said to men, what are we going to do to solve the problems that go to the things that you care about in your everyday life?” he said.

Democrats pushed back on the idea that this strategy is a guilt trip and instead said the influential voices are just making the decision clear for male voters.

“I do not view it as a guilt trip but just making it plain for them, which is something Democrats tend to shy away from in their messaging. This makes clear the stakes of the moment,” said Clayton Cox, a former Democratic National Committee national finance director.

“What you are seeing from Governor Walz and first lady Obama is very pointed effort to make this connection for men that when the autonomy of women’s bodies are on the ballot, they better pay attention too,” he added.

Walz on Monday said he wanted to send a message “for about half of this crowd.”

“This is for the men, all of you have those women in your life that you love — daughters, partners, sisters, friends, neighbors, colleagues, whoever it might be,” Walz told the Michigan audience. “Their lives are at stake in this election, be very clear about that. And be very clear about this, when Congress restores the right to choose, making Roe the law of the land, Kamala Harris will proudly sign it into law.”

Criticizing or making judgments about groups of voters based on gender, race or religion can backfire.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, for example, in 2016 told a group of voters “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other” to try to garner support for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The remark was seen as disciplining women who supported Clinton’s Democratic opponent at the time, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Albright later said her comment was “undiplomatic.”

That’s one reason some in the GOP are looking at the recent comments and not worrying.

“Democrats overlooked male voters for years, and Kamala isn't likely to win them back with angry lectures at the eleventh hour,” said Republican strategist John Ashbrook.

Harris faces a clear challenge with male voters.

A CBS News/YouGov survey released Sunday found Harris earned 55 percent of her support from women, while Trump earned 54 percent of his from men. Trump also led among young male voters who are less certain about voting, 37 percent compared to Harris’s 26 percent in a Harvard Institute of Politics youth poll released Friday.

The Harris campaign has downplayed such polls, and Harris senior campaign adviser Ian Sams, in an interview with The Hill’s partner network NewsNation, argued they aren’t seeing the same gender gap reflected when they talk to voters on the ground. Sams said “she’s building a pretty broad coalition” and cited abortion rights as a reason for that.

“We also have to talk about how Donald Trump is doing so poorly with women in this country because of what he did with Roe v Wade. And so actually, the vice president is seeing significant momentum among men who are coming to this decision that our going back to the era of Donald Trump is just something they don't want to take, and they are choosing her ideas on bringing down costs and protecting their health care,” Sams said.

The Harris campaign also argued that for undecided male voters in particular, reproductive rights “should be a motivating factor.”

“Painting that picture of what that reality could look like for men across the country, for the people who they love the most — their wives, their girlfriends, their mothers, their daughters, their nieces — is one that we think can and should be a motivating factor down the stretch in this campaign,” said communications director Michael Tyler.

Meanwhile, GOP men argue the male voting bloc is motivated by other issues that also impact the families, like the immigration and the economy that are key pillars of Trump’s campaign.

“They worry about their ability to provide a livelihood for those same women,” said Lampkin. “And when you've got an economy where it is significantly more expensive to run your business, to buy groceries, to pay for the oil and gas, to heat your home, and fuel your car, that’s a decision factor for lots of men.”