In the latter part of the elections, analysis by Newsweek indicates a significant gender gap, with female voters showing a strong preference for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, while men showing a strong preference for Trump.

Newsweek looked at national polls since Oct. 28, which provide a breakdown of voting intentions by gender, and found that women score an average of 8 points for Harris, while men score 10 points for Trump. This amounts to an average gender gap of 9 points.

According to Newsweeks Analysis, polls show that Harris has the average support of 52 percent of female voters and 43 percent of male voters. Meanwhile, 53 percent of male voters support Trump, compared to 44 percent of female voters.

The gender gap is not a new phenomenon. Since the 1980s, women have been more likely to support Democrats and men have been more likely to support Republicans, and this political divide has only widened over time. But this year, the gap could have significant implications for the election outcome because of how close the race currently is.

With just a few days to go until the elections, the polls are closer than ever. FiveThirtyEight’s tracker shows Kamala Harris leading by one point, with every swing state within a two-point margin. Meanwhile, the Cook Political Report released its final projections on Friday, showing the election is too close to call.

Carrie Baker, professor of women, gender and sexuality at Smith College in Massachusetts, explains Newsweek: “Whichever way this election goes, gender will be a crucial factor in determining the outcome.”

Newsweek has contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns via email for comment.

A recent JL Partners poll conducted between October 26 and 29 found that male voters were 22 points more likely than women to support the former president. Meanwhile, women broke for Harris by 14 points. This amounts to an average gender gap of 18 points.

Other polls have also shown Trump leading Harris by a wide margin among men. For example, a Quantus Insights poll between October 27 and 30 found Trump ahead of Harris by 13 points among men, and Harris ahead by 11 points among women. This amounts to an average gender gap of 12 points.

However, some polls show a much smaller gender gap. An AtlasIntel survey conducted between October 25 and 29 found that men were just 4 points ahead of Trump, while he and Harris were tied at 49 percent each among women. Meanwhile, a SoCal Strategies poll conducted between October 30 and 31 found that men were just 5 points ahead of Trump, while women were just 3 points ahead of Harris.

But while the true nature of the gender gap is not clear from the polls, surveys following this year’s election have indicated that the gender gap may be particularly wide among young voters.

An average of three recent ones New York Times/Siena College polls, conducted from September to October, show Trump leading Harris by 21 points (58 percent to 37 percent) among young men, while Harris has a 39 point lead among young women (67 percent to 28 percent) . A Harvard Kennedy School poll of 18- to 29-year-olds in September also showed a 10-point gender gap, with Trump receiving 38 percent support from young men, compared to 28 percent from young women, while Harris’ support was 49 percent amounted to. percent among men and 59 percent among women.

Additionally, an Alliance for Black Equality poll conducted Oct. 15-19 found that 35 percent of Black men in Generation Z support Trump — the highest percentage among Black voters surveyed. The poll, with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent, included almost 1,500 respondents.

“The gender gap in voting, which emerged in 1980 and has grown steadily over the years, is likely to be wider than ever this year, especially among young people. MAGA Republicans have targeted young men and tailored their messages to hypermasculinity and resentment.” Baker said Newsweek.

Elisabeth Clemens, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, explained that the right’s use of populist rhetoric is crucial to understanding what drives the gender gap.

“From Hannah Arendt to Arlie Hochschild, scholars have recognized that populism appeals to those who experience or anticipate loss of status, whether that takes the form of the erosion of racial or gender privilege or the loss of a job or reputation in the community. The Trump campaign promises a restoration of male privilege and traditional family roles; Democrats are focused on creating good-paying manufacturing jobs and home ownership,” she said Newsweek.

A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that 23 percent of men — and 33 percent of men who supported Trump — believed women’s progress has come at their expense.

Financially, young women are becoming independent faster than in the 1980s, with many young men earning more and living on their own. Pew’s research also shows that 39 percent of men agree that men today have more difficulty than women securing high-paying jobs — a sentiment especially prevalent among young Republican men.

And according to Blueprint, these men often feel pessimistic and disillusioned about America and its political system – something Trump has taken advantage of by positioning himself as the anti-establishment figure victimized by Washington’s political elite.

Nowhere has this been more evident in this election than in Trump’s use of podcasts – a non-traditional form of media – to appeal to young, especially male, voters. The former president has appeared The Joe Rogan Experiencethe Shawn Ryan showas well as Theo Von’s podcast and Lex Fridman’s show. All four podcasts attract a largely young, male audience and millions of viewers. Meanwhile, Harris declined to appear on the Joe Rogan Experience.

For Jackson Katz, co-founder of the Young Men’s Research Initiative, this was a disappointing move by her campaign.

‘I had hoped she would continue Joe Rogan experiencebecause I think that would have been a very powerful statement for young men,” he said Newsweek.

But there is still hope for Harris’ campaign. The first voting data shows that the Democrats have a two-point lead. However, it is unclear what this means for the elections, because the data only shows whether voters are registered with a party, and not who they vote for. Nevertheless, the data suggests that the Democrats’ leadership is in the hands of women who are voting en masse for Harris, with 54 percent of all early voters identifying as women, while 43 percent are men. If this trend continues, Harris could pull off a victory, according to Katz.

“I think part of the challenge in the Trump campaign has been to try to motivate more young men to come out than normal, because they know they’re going to lose very badly among women,” he said.

He added that young men could even swing the election toward Harris if they “see through” Trump.

“If enough young men can see through the Trump campaign’s efforts to exploit their vulnerability to cartoonish appeals to masculinity, it could make a difference,” he said.