DNC lineup of politically powerful women underscores gender gap between Democrats and Republicans

The only question is by how much, and whether his edge among women will be offset by Trump’s edge among men.Democrats hoping to expand their edge with female voters added three Republican women (and moderates) to their roster of convention speakers Monday night: former New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman, former GOP congresswoman Susan Molinari (who was the keynote speaker at the 1996 Republican National Convention), and business executive and former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who backed GOP presidential candidates in 2008 and 2012 but switched to supporting Democrat Clinton in 2016 after Trump won his party’s nomination.More:'Enough is enough': Grieving daughter blasts Trump's coronavirus response in DNC speechMolinari praised Biden's record on issues important to women, and called Trump "so disappointing and lately so disturbing." Christine Whitman called Biden a person "decent enough, stable enough and strong enough to get our economy back on track," saying "Donald Trump is not that person."  Meg Whitman said, "Donald Trump has no clue how to run a business let alone an economy." “I think COVID has emphasized particularly for women voters how high the stakes are — women especially, because we are oftentimes the primary caregiver and scheduler and now virtual educator, and many (are) also working,” said Democratic consultant Tanya Bjork of Wisconsin, echoing a major theme of the convention, including Monday night's program — Trump’s handling of the pandemic. The former first lady Monday night blamed Trump's victory in part on voters who stayed home in 2016, saying, "four years ago, too many people chose to believe that their votes didn’t matter."More:Trump embraces CNN poll showing him closing in on Biden, but recent surveys show ex-VP aheadAs for Republicans, Dolan said, the gender gap poses a particular challenge: because women outnumber men in the electorate,  Republicans need to carry male voters by a higher margin than Democrats carry female voters.That is not what’s happening in the polls in Wisconsin and nationally right now.In fact, while Democrats point to the pandemic as hurting Trump among women, the polling suggests it has actually hurt Trump more among men.The growth of Biden’s lead in Wisconsin this summer since the coronavirus hit has come not because Biden’s big lead among women has gotten bigger (it has held pretty steady), but because Trump’s lead among men has gotten smaller — from about 18 points earlier this year to about 5 points in July and August, the Marquette polling shows.