Kamala Harris can leverage Donald Trump's women issues in White House race

Accused of sexual misconduct and affairs spanning decades, blamed for strict abortion curbs and criticised for sexism, Donald Trump has a women's problem — and Democrats are gambling that Kamala Harris can use it as a cudgel.

Trump was accused of misogyny by his Democratic 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton — the only woman ever nominated for a White House run by a major party — and is facing similar attacks from a vice president looking increasingly likely to be the second.

Broadening Trump's appeal to women is seen as key to the Republican's electoral success in November, after he won just 42 per cent of the female vote on his way to defeat in 2020, against Joe Biden's 57 per cent.

There was a coordinated push at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week to soften the 78-year-old billionaire's rougher edges, with former and current associates effusive in their praise.

Several female family members also weighed in, with Kai Trump, his oldest grandchild, sharing stories of "a normal grandpa" who "gives us candy and soda when our parents aren't looking."

The praise was at odds with his public persona as an adjudicated sexual predator who has bragged about groping women and has a reputation for being unfaithful, allegedly cheating on his third wife Melania Trump with a Playboy model and a adult movie star.

'Fat pigs, dogs, slobs'

Trump was found liable last year for a mid-1990s sex attack on writer E Jean Carroll — the judge called it "rape" — and ordered to pay $88 million in damages for the assault itself and for defaming her.

During his first primary campaign, he criticized the looks of his only female Republican rival and implied that the wife of another opponent —Senator Ted Cruz of Texas — was ugly.

Then the "Access Hollywood" footage of him boasting about being able to grab women by their genitals almost brought a swift end to his campaign.

Years earlier he had boasted on Howard Stern's show about entering beauty pageant changing rooms with "incredible-looking women" in various states of undress.

Voters were reminded of Trump's controversial statements during one of the primary debates in 2015 when moderator Megyn Kelly brought up his descriptions of women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals."

He later criticized the questioning, saying Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever."

Clinton accused Trump of "stalking" her during their debate in October 2016, after a bizarre performance during which he often stood closely behind her glowering.

After he won that election, more than 500 Women's March protests were held in America and scores of foreign cities.

Trump has denied more than a dozen sexual misconduct allegations, from groping and harassment to rape. The official Trump White House position in 2017 was that the women were all lying.

'Formidable female contender'

He avoided jail in the Carroll case because it was a civil trial, but incarceration has not been ruled out in his September sentencing for falsifying business records to cover up an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP the media's portrayal of his treatment of women was "entirely false," pointing to his efforts to expand access to paid family leave and child care in his first term.

Meanwhile, reproductive rights have become a hot-button 2024 election issue after Trump's appointment of three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn federal abortion protections.

Harris, as well as being a former prosecutor who used to put men away for fraud and rape, is a leading proponent of abortion access.

A coalition of 22 progressive and women's groups released a statement calling Harris "the leading voice in the Biden administration to restore abortion rights -- the issue galvanising voters in red states and blue."

Political strategist Sergio Jose Gutierrez says that while Harris might struggle with moderate and older women, the 2020 Democratic coalition of suburban women and working moms could help her across the line.

"Trump's stronghold remains among small-town voters, seniors, and economic conservatives," said Gutierrez, the CEO of consultancy Espora.

"But he must adapt to the dynamics of running against a formidable female contender."