Dem pollster says recent successes, Trump boosting women’s desire to run for office

Democratic pollster Pia Nargundkar said in an interview that aired Thursday on “What America’s Thinking” that women’s hesitations about running for office are starting to fade given the recent successes of female candidates and the election of President Trump.

“I think we have seen a groundswell of enthusiasm for women wanting to run for office, in part due to President Trump’s election,” Nargundkar, senior associate at ALG Research, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on Wednesday.

“Emily’s List, a pro-choice Democratic organization that helps women run for office, had 900 inquiries going into 2016 of women wanting to run for office for the first time. That number was 43,000 this year,” she continued.

“The problem with women and running for office is they’re more likely to think that they’re not qualified, that they don’t have the resources, that it’s too hard. Women are less likely to donate to political candidates so their fundraising networks are smaller,” she said. 

“That’s all starting to change now that women are going out and doing, and showing that it can be done,” she said. 

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in September found that 57 percent of women said that they believed voters were not ready to elect women. 

However, women candidates made major gains across the country in last week’s midterm elections. 

At least 129 women were elected to serve in Congress this year, which is up from 112 this current session, according to legislative tracking company Quorum.

Female candidates also broke records in state races as well, with over 2,000 women set to take office early next year in state legislatures across the country.