Women hit the road for Donald Trump

Republicans say telling women they should select a president based solely on gender, not her ideas, is sexist.

Women make up the majority of voters in the US, and currently polls show the majority support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

That’s why, if Republican Donald Trump wants to win the White House, he needs people like Carrie Almond.

For more than 160 days, Almond, and her dog Reagan, named after the 40th US president, have been travelling the country, in a Women for Trump bus, to convince female voters to support the Republican nominee.

Almond is the president of the National Federation of Republican Women, and after the publication of that 2005 video, where Trump brags about groping women, she has been working overtime.

She admits, like many conservative female voters, she was bothered by what she heard on the Trump tape. But she’s asking women to separate their disgust about Trump’s comments, and consider the policies he represents.

OPINION: Can Hillary Clinton change gender roles in politics?

“Some things Donald Trump has said are concerning,” she says. “But Republican values, national security, the economy, selecting the next Supreme Court justice, Hillary doesn’t speak for us.”

Indeed, Almond says the reception her brightly painted red, white and blue bus has been getting around the country shows she’s not the only woman feeling this way.

Some evangelical leaders begin to question Trump

She says many American women resent the Clinton campaign heralding the historic nature of her candidacy by implying women should help her to break the proverbial glass ceiling and cast a vote for Clinton in November.

South Carolina voter Christina Jeffrey agrees. As the bus pulled into a rally of Republican women in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Jeffrey told me as a grandmother that Clinton doesn’t seem interested enough in the next generation.

“She talks a lot about being a grandmother all the time,” Jeffrey said, “but she does not seem to me to be focused on family and family values.”

Keeley O’Keefe concurs and says the criminal investigation this year surrounding Clinton’s decision to use a private email server for government work while secretary of state shows that Clinton lacks the good judgement and moral character necessary to be president.

“I’d like to see a woman in the White House who hasn’t deleted 33,000 emails, who hasn’t committed acts that would have ended the careers of others.

“I’d like to see someone in the White House with morals.”

Keys to the White House

Almond says conservative women in the US aren’t feeling the #imwithher sisterhood.

They believe telling women they should select a president based solely on gender, not ideas, is sexist.

“This election is more than just about gender. This is about eight years of failed Barack Obama policies,” Almond argues.

That’s why Almond will not stop working, right up to November 8.

READ MORE: Trump’s promises strike a chord in Pennsylvania

Despite recent polls showing Clinton is poised for a win on election day, Almond says she is focused on the millions of women in the US who have still not registered to vote.

She is hoping to convince them to vote for Trump.

She plans to do everything she can to prevent Clinton from getting the “keys to the White House”.

Her message is simple. “A vote for Hillary would be a mistake.

“We all would like to see a woman in the White House, we just want the right woman in the White House.”

Carrie Almond has been on the road for 160 days [Chris Sheridan/Al Jazeera]
Carrie Almond has been on the road for 160 days [Chris Sheridan/Al Jazeera]
Source: Al Jazeera