Pollsters & Professor Find Gov. Noem’s Leadership Style Too ‘Masculine;’ Drives Away Female Voters

The South Dakota News Watch ran a suppression poll on Thursday to promote the perception that Gov. Kristi Noem has a “masculine” leadership style that drives away female voters.

About 63 percent of men said they trust Noem “to successfully manage health challenges,” but only 44 percent of women agreed, SDNW reported in a poll.

In pursuit of a narrative, news organizations buried the overall poll results: 54 percent of South Dakotans approve of her governorship, while 41 percent disapprove.

Emily Wanless, an associate professor in the Government and International Affairs Department at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, said Noem’s leadership style does not fit her gender.

“If you think about her response to the coronavirus, it’s a very conservative argument — personal responsibility and taking care of ourselves,” Wanless said. “That runs counter to these feminine stereotypes where we believe women should have a communal, sensitive, caring outlook.”

Noem has refused to issue a mask mandate, house-arrest order, business shutdown, or any other unconstitutional and authoritarian response to a virus that acts similarly to the common cold for more than 99 percent of the healthy population.

“Women politicians are often penalized if appearing to be power-seeking, much more so than men,” Wanless said. “This is a role that requires her to be commanding, which might be associated with more masculine traits and which we might forgive of men but not women.”

Unlike most governors throughout the nation, Noem has chosen not to amass power as many citizens cower due to the corporate media’s virus propaganda.

The “masculine” narrative would have been labeled sexist if it were applied by conservatives to any left-wing female governor.

“When is the story about [Minnesota] Governor [Tim] Walz’s too feminine leadership style coming?,” Noem’s Senior Advisor & Policy Director Maggie Seidel said in a press release.

The poll was conducted with the help of the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota.