Why American women could hold the keys to the White House
Hillary Clinton made gender a key weapon of her election campaign, but some women may have been put off voting at all.
Monday 7 November 2016 21:41, UK
Women will play a major role in deciding who becomes arguably the most powerful leader in the world, as the race for the White House enters its final stages.
More than half of registered voters in the US are women and since the 1980s they have voted in higher numbers than men.
"Neither candidate can win without women," according to Susan MacManus, Professor of Political Science at the University of South Florida.
Gender has played a huge role in this election which could see America's first female elected president, but no-one could have predicted how dominant the issue of women would be.
Following Donald Trump's derogatory comments about women, Hillary Clinton made gender an important weapon in her campaign arsenal.
Her adverts strung together clips of Mr Trump's sexist remarks which some Republican women passed off as "locker room talk", while others have decided not to vote for him.
They include Dr Pamela McCauley, who after 12 years as a Republican is now campaigning for Mrs Clinton as part of the group Republican Women for Hillary.
She told Sky News: "To think that someone could be our president and actually say those things about women, and say it with ease, say it comfortably, and have a history of this, is extremely disturbing."
But while women voters generally lean towards the Democrats, Mrs Clinton's close connection with the establishment and the investigation into her emails has dampened her popularity.
Some women in Florida told me they were backing Mrs Clinton because "they didn't want Trump", while others, including Deborah Tamargo, Florida Federation for Republican Women, labelled Mrs Clinton "crooked" and a "poor role model".
But the perceived flaws of both candidates may pose a greater threat to their last-minute push for votes, especially among younger women.
This is the first time that 20-year-old Kelsey Beloff is old enough to vote in an election, but she has decided to abstain, telling Sky News she disliked both candidates.
"I just feel like we could have done better, as a national, as a whole," she said.
The clashes in this election have often been brutal and both sides have been left with bruises.
As the candidates enter the final hours of this battle, the danger is they may have put some women off going to the polling station altogether.
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