In a lengthy Instagram post following the first presidential debate between Harris and Trump, Swift criticised Trump for posting on his website her AI-created images falsely depicting her as a Trump supporter. Swift announced she would be voting for Harris, praising her as a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who fights for causes Swift believes in. The singer urged her followers to research candidates and register to vote.
With her Instagram post, Swift used her picture with a cat and signed off as “Childless Cat Lady”, a term once used by Trump’s running mate JD Vance to mock women without children.
Tech billionaire and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk responded to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris with a provocative post on his platform. Musk wrote: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
Swift’s post and Musk’s remark bring back the controversy over childless cat ladies.
Vance’s remark on people without children
The controversy traces back to a 2022 Fox News interview where Vance criticised left-liberal ideologies, referring to some Democrats and their allies as “childless cat ladies” who, he claimed, were driven by personal dissatisfaction and aimed to spread misery. The remarks, which resurfaced recently, have been met with strong reactions, particularly from those who felt marginalized by his words.”We’re effectively run in this country—via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs—by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. It’s just a basic fact.” Vance had said.”If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” Vance added.
Vance’s old video calling Harris a childless cat lady went viral recently, just when women’s issues such as abortion rights and IVF treatments were in spotlight. In an interview, Vance’s wife, Usha Vance clarified about his remarks.
“What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder,” she continued. She added, “Occasionally, it leads to discussions about our next steps or how we should live. But we’ve been dealing with this for a while now, and I’ve developed a bit of a thick skin. I try not to let it affect how I live or interact with friends and family,” she said.
As Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ remark snowballed into a major controversy, Trump distanced himself from the remark. Trump said Vance just loves family and there is nothing wrong in saying that. “I know so many people. They never met the right person, male or female … just never met the right person,” Trump said in an interview. “They’re unbelievable. They’re every bit as good as anybody else that has the most beautiful family.”
Why “childless cat ladies” matter
Trump has been trying to not appear anti-women in his campaign. The abortion bans, for which Democrats blame Trump as his hand-picked judges had overtuned an earlier judgment to allow states to regulate abortion, have become a significant issue for Democrats and women voters. The issue was also highlighted during the party’s recent national convention and Harris’s acceptance speech. Trump has recently pushed back against accusations by Democrats and reassured voters that his administration would be “great for women and their reproductive rights”. Trump has taken an ambiguous position on abortion bans so that the issue does not stick to him. Vance had said that Trump, if re-elected, would not support a national abortion ban. While the Republican Party platform still opposes late-term abortion, it no longer calls for a federal abortion ban, instead emphasizing support for prenatal care, birth control access, and fertility treatments.
Women matter a lot as voters, and Republicans can’t afford to antagonise a large demographic by appearing anti-women. That’s why the “childless cat ladies” controversy can harm Trump’s poll prospects.
A report last year by Wells Fargo economists said more than half of American women are single. “The change is rippling across the economy and leaving a mark on the labor market, wealth and spending,” it said. A record 52% of women lived in single households in 2021, which is equivalent to around 26% of the total US population. Due to women increasingly pushing back marriage or forgoing it all together, the number of never-married women has grown a staggering 20% over the past decade, it said. Over the past decade, the share of women previously married but now single has been little changed at around 22%. Instead, the rising share of single women households has been driven entirely by never-married women, the report said.
More single women tend to choose Democrats over Republicans. As per a CNN poll, 58% of unmarried people had voted for Joe Biden in previous elections while the number for Trump was 40%. However, more married people, at 53%, voted for Trump while for Biden the number was 46%. 57% of women had voted for Biden while the number for Trump was 42%.
That’s why Republicans are likely to downplay the “childless cat ladies” controversy as Trump had earlier steered clear of Vance’s controversial remarks.