#RepealThe19th surfaces as the worst hashtag of the 2016 election
A hashtag calling for the repeal of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote way back in 1920, has emerged as the latest low point in the presidential election.
On Twitter, use of the hashtag #RepealThe19th can be found as far back as April of this year (using only Twitter’s advance search method) but on Wednesday the Los Angeles Times published an online report saying Donald Trump supporters were widely sharing it in reaction to two recent hypothetical forecasts from a well-respected pollster of how the presidential election would turn out if only men and if only women voted.
Here’s what that projection would look like if only women voted: Hillary Clinton would be elected in a landslide.
The news website FiveThirtyEight, which specializes in data journalism, has tracked polls and other patterns for months to predict the outcome of the presidential election. It published a map illustrating its two scenarios of men- and women-only voting on Tuesday, four weeks before the Nov. 8 election.
That day, people on Twitter began sharing the hashtag in reaction to the map and the recent outrage at Trump’s comments about women.
Trump has recently come under fire from Republicans and Democrats for his various demeaning comments about women. In late September, Trump sent out a tweet storm around 3 a.m. shaming a former Miss Universe’s weight gain. Then days before the second presidential election, a tape showed Trump making lewd comments about women and bragging about sexually assaulting them.
If Trump’s tape didn’t anger women across the country enough, the hashtag has tipped the scale furthermore with reactions ranging from sad to disgusted.
Even if the criticism is largely landing on Trump supporters, it’s unclear whether the hashtag was meant to be a commentary on this particular election — especially because it’s been widely used since April when the primaries were still going. Several people were expressing doubt on whether the hashtag was serious at all or whether it was designed to ruffle feathers among women voters.
Whatever the case, suggesting that women should lose their right to vote is a new low point in this election.
Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @RunGomez
ALSO
Donald Trump takes off 'shackles,' takes on 'disloyal' GOP
