‘Take Our Lives Seriously’: Michelle Obama Implores Men To Vote For Harris

Obama pleaded to the 'men who love us' to vote for Kamala Harris.

As the polling continues to show a deep gender divide for Vice President Kamala Harris, former first lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned plea to men to stand up for women on Election Day during a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Oct. 26.

According to The New York Times, this marked Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail. She pleaded “from the core of my being” to male voters “to take our lives seriously.”

“If your wife is shivering and bleeding on the operating room table during a routine delivery gone bad, her pressure dropping as she loses more and more blood, or some unforeseen infection spreads and her doctors aren’t sure if they can act, you will be the one praying that it’s not too late,” Obama said. “You will be the one pleading for somebody, anybody, to do something.”

She continued, “If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women, will become collateral damage to your rage.”

Obama lambased the media and voters for “choosing to ignore [former President] Donald Trump’s gross incompetence, while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn.”

She continued, “We expect her to be intelligent and articulate, to have a clear set of policies, to never show too much anger, to prove time and time again that she belongs. But for Trump, we expect nothing at all, no understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals.”

Harris underscored the points Obama made during her address. “We’re seeing women scrambling across state lines to get the care they need. Do you think Donald Trump is thinking about the consequences for the millions of women who will be living in medical deserts?”

The vice president continued, “I want the men in the arena to bear with me on this, because there’s more at stake than just protecting a woman’s choice to give birth. Sadly, we as women and girls have not been socialized to talk openly about our reproductive health. We’ve been taught instead to feel shame and to hide how our bodies work.”

She also stressed that unwanted teen pregnancy not only affects young girls, but also the young fathers who will have the course of their lives drastically change.

The urgency has its roots in polling data. As Vox reported, nearly every poll has indicated that men are lagging behind women in their support of Harris’s candidacy. A poll from ABC News and Ipsos of likely voters in the 2024 election, Black men currently lead the way, supporting Harris at an 85% clip while Latinx men are polling at 63% and white men lag far behind at 38 percent.

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According to CBS News, the election may also shape up to be a referendum on personal views of progress.

Men who believe that the focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion has left them behind in favor of women tend to indicate support for Trump, while women who believe that Trump is incompetent and is unfit to serve as president tend to indicate support for Harris.