Cats could be the turning point in the US presidential election

As “cat ladies” are being discussed on both sides of the election, cats are taking center stage in this campaign.

It all started with a statement by JD Vance in 2021. At that time, he had not yet become the Republican vice presidential candidate.

“This is a fundamental truth,” Vance told Tucker Carlson in 2021. “Look at Kamala Harris, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the entire future of the Democratic Party is in the hands of people who don’t have children. It’s absurd to empower people who don’t really have a stake in the country.”

Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate. Photo: New York Times.

This statement, which is heavily pro-long-termist and pro-parenting, is not actually politically taboo.

Although this comment is somewhat short-sighted, it does not really show contempt for women. Because, having children is a problem for everyone, the Guardian commented.

But it doesn’t stop there. “These are cat ladies who don’t have kids, who are miserable with their lives and their own decisions, and they want to make the whole country miserable,” Mr. Vance continued.

harmful statement

When Mr. Vance’s comments were resurfaced in the middle of this year, the Democratic campaign called Mr. Vance “misogynistic, not necessarily family-first.”

Jennifer Aniston, the 55-year-old actress who struggled with infertility, wrote on Instagram: “Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter will one day be lucky enough to get pregnant and have a baby.”

Jennifer Aniston has long been open about her struggles with conceiving. Photo: New York Times.

With a single statement, Mr. Vance attacked several groups of parents at once, including stepparents, gay parents and even foster parents.

Ironically, Ms. Harris is not childless, as the vice president has two stepchildren. Similarly, Mr. Buttigieg and his husband have adopted two children.

In addition to the controversial issue of having children, cats have also been caught in the middle of the political storm. In an Instagram post on September 10 (US time) expressing support for the Harris-Walz ticket, Taylor Swift signed it “cat lady, no kids,” using Mr. Vance’s own phrase to counter his comments.

Photo: Taylor Swift Instagram.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who has had a close relationship with Mr. Trump since 2023, responded to the 34-year-old singer: "It's okay Taylor, you won, I will help you have a child and protect your cats with my life."

The importance of cat owners

Whether the debate over having children and keeping cats affects the Republican Party remains a big question mark.

According to the Guardian , people who lean Democratic are more likely to own cats, with 40% of this party's supporters owning cats, while the figure for Republicans is 35%.

That’s still a telling number. If conservative voters were more interested in their pets than politics, a significant portion of them would still feel isolated by Mr. Vance’s comments.

On this front, the partisan divide is fairly even: 31.8% of Democrats and 33.3% of Republicans said their cat was the most important member of their family.

From the above statistics, Guardian writer Zoe Williams concluded that “bearded friends seem more important than the presidential election.”

Cat-loving voters were more or less affected by Mr. Vance's statement. Photo: New York Times.

The states with the most cats in the US include Vermont, Maine, West Virginia, Indiana, New Hampshire, Iowa, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas and Wisconsin.

According to the New York Times classification, of these states, only Wisconsin is a battleground state. However, if applying the classification of statistician Nate Silver, New Hampshire is also considered a battleground state.

Battleground states, also known as swing states, are electoral districts that do not lean strongly toward either party.

If cat owners in the aforementioned battleground states feel offended by the Republicans' statements and turn to support Ms. Harris, the Democrats will almost certainly hold these battleground states, the Guardian commented.

Also revolving around the topic of cats, during a live debate with Ms. Harris in Philadelphia, Mr. Donald Trump spread baseless rumors about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating cats and dogs.

However, ABC News coordinator David Muir quickly interrupted Mr. Trump and corrected that the rumor was false after the news agency received confirmation from local officials.

Still, even if Republicans use this conspiracy theory to rally voters for Trump to stop the cat poaching in Ohio (which is not true), Trump and Vance's path to the White House remains a big question mark.

znews.vn

Source: https://znews.vn/nhung-con-meo-co-the-tao-buoc-ngoat-trong-bau-cu-tong-thong-my-post1497396.html