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Here’s What Young Women Think Of Ivanka Trump — And What It Means For 2018

by Morgan Brinlee
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Earlier this month it was reported that Republicans hoped to use Ivanka Trump ahead of midterm elections to boost the appeal of Republican candidates in states where her father remained unpopular. But a new poll shows Republicans' plan to put Ivanka on the campaign trail just might backfire. According to CBS News, the poll found the majority of women viewed Ivanka "unfavorably," which could prove problematic for the Republican candidates she stumps for.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that Trump administration aides were drafting a few different methods of supporting Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. Among those were reportedly plans to have Ivanka campaign on behalf of GOP candidates in blue states where her father's policies had hurt his — and potentially the Republican Party's — popularity. According to The Washington Post, it's likely that Trump will be sent to more suburban districts where she'll talk about Republicans' impact on the economy and the workforce.

But a CBS News-Refinery 29 poll recently conducted by YouGov and released on Monday, Aug. 13, shows that Ivanka may not have the popularity and influence among young women that Republicans are counting on in the midterms. In fact, the poll found that 43 percent of adult women held unfavorable opinions of Trump, compared to the 29 percent who viewed her favorably. Another 28 percent of women said their opinion of the president's eldest daughter was still undecided.

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But while most of the nearly 2,100 adult women surveyed weren't what you might call Ivanka Trump fans, CBS News has reported that younger women appeared especially inclined to hold unfavorable opinions of her. While 18 percent of women age 18 to 35 reported having a favorable opinion of the president's daughter and senior adviser, 46 percent said they viewed her unfavorably. But a good number of young women — 36 percent to be exact — were undecided on the first daughter.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, CBS News noted that opinions of Trump "break down along party lines," with both younger and older Democratic women more likely to view her unfavorably than Republican women do.

The CBS News-Refinery 29 poll also looked at how women perceived Trump's purported ability to influence her father. While 15 percent of women said they felt Ivanka Trump had been "a negative influence" on President Donald Trump, 26 percent said they thought she'd been "a positive influence." But an overwhelming majority of the women surveyed — 59 percent — reported feeling that Ivanka "hasn't had much influence on President Trump" at all.

Those numbers changed only slightly when looking just at women age 18 to 35. Among women of that age group, 18 percent felt Trump's influence on her father had been "negative" while 22 percent felt it had been "positive." A whopping 60 percent said they felt she "hadn't had much influence."

But while the Trump administration may be looking to use the first daughter to lure in potential votes in states where the president's hardline policies and rhetoric have turned voters off, they may find her influence with voters isn't what they thought. Among women at least, Trump's popularity — like her father's —appears to have slipped.