Civility, gender, and gendered nationalism in the age of Trump

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using an original national survey, I examine the impact of gender on attitudes about political civility two years into Donald Trump’s presidency. I find that women have less tolerance for uncivil behavior than men, although Republican women express the lowest tolerance for incivility. Republican women are no less likely than Republican men to rate Trump’s behavior as uncivil – and are much less likely to do so than Democratic women or men. While partisanship exerts a strong countervailing force on Republican women when it comes to considering Donald Trump’s civility, also important is the role of gendered nationalist attitudes, which are linked to both tolerance of uncivil behavior and positive perceptions of Trump’s civility. Men who embrace gendered nationalist views are more tolerant of incivility and are more likely to rate Trump’s behavior as civil. Women who agree that America has become too soft and feminine also give Trump higher civility marks than those women who do not. Notably, Republican women’s greater endorsement of this concept of gendered nationalism likely contributes to their belief that Trump is civil and sheds greater light on how threats to masculinity have become politicized in the Trump era.