ABSTRACT

Scholars will long ponder the results of the 2016 election. Much debate can and will swirl around the thin margins by which Trump carried the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida to secure victory in the electoral college, but larger issues surround Trump's success. Heading into the election, voters in 2016 were primed to think about gender and what has colloquially been termed "women's issues". Though no women were running in 2012 on a major party ticket, gender politics played a substantial part in that campaign. In 2016, the Republican primary promised to place its candidate against the nation's first woman nominee. The demonstration of normative masculinity was at its peak as the field narrowed from many to one, billionaire real estate developer and reality television star Donald Trump. The campaign began in earnest in March 2015, when Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced his candidacy.