Donald Trump’s runaway support among white male voters has been well documented, but unfortunately for his campaign, winning a national election requires attracting voters from a broad swath of demographic groups.
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday, Republican strategist Nicole Wallace asked Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AZ) and Sen. Tom Barrasso (R-WY) how they could address the party’s flagging numbers among women and minorities.
“We as a party are losing women by 23 points at the top of our ticket,” Wallace said. “Do you even want to win with just white men voting Republican? I’m embarrassed.”
“George W. Bush won with 40 percent of the Hispanic vote,” she went on. “He narrowed the gender gap to a historic level that we haven’t matched since 2004. Are you proud our path to victory is just to turn out more white guys?”
The two senators turned to each other and urged the other to speak first. Host Mika Brzezinski joked that the answer to Wallace’s question would be given by “two white guys.”
“Well bring in Joni Ernst, bring in Kelly Ayotte, bring in others, there are many people around the country—” Barasso replied, naming female Republican senators.
“So Donald Trump himself can’t appeal to women,” Wallace said.
“Absolutely,” Barasso pushed back. “The change versus more of the same is really—”
“The platform is the most conservative ever,” Wallace replied, referring to the official GOP platform released Monday. The New York Times editorial board called the document, which makes no exceptions for rape or women’s health in cases of abortion, requires the Bible to be taught in public schools, calls for appointing “family values” judges, and rejects gun control measures, “the most extreme” “in memory.”
“Do you think women are going to be attracted to this year’s platform?” she asked.
“It’s a platform focused on jobs,” Barasso said. “Women are very concerned about economy. And it’s about security, national security, energy security, economic security, key issues for all Americans.”
Barrasso chaired the platform committee at this year’s convention. The interview ended before Cotton, who spoke Monday during the “Make America Safe Again” programming, could share his thoughts.
