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During his Wednesday press conference at the United Nations, which touched on everything from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to why UN delegates laughed at him yesterday, President Donald Trump claimed that 52 percent of women voted for him on Election Day 2016.
In fact, Trump won 52 percent of white woman voters in 2016 and just 41 percent of all women, according to exit poll data cited by the Washington Post. That crucial distinction has not stopped Trump from repeatedly claiming he won a majority of female voters.
Trump brought up his election during a full-throated defense of Kavanaugh, his pick for the high court who has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct. Trump said women were upset at Kavanaugh’s treatment in the media. “Women are very angry. You know, I got 52 percent with women. Everybody said this couldn’t happen—52 percent.”
Trump keeps claiming he got 52% of the female vote. He got 41%. He got 52% with WHITE women. https://t.co/9ijRIvRkhb
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) September 26, 2018
He made the same mistake in March. “We got 52 percent. Right? Fifty-two,” Trump said during a rally in Pennsylvania with Rick Saccone, the GOP congressional candidate who lost a special election to Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.). “And I’m running against a woman! You know, it’s not that easy,” he added.
As the Post pointed out after Trump’s rally, his claim defies logic, because Trump could not have lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton—as he did—if he’d won a majority of both men and women. (Trump won 52 percent of male voters in comparison to Clinton’s 41 percent.)