Elizabeth Warren told to 'smile more' to win male voters for 2020 presidential polls
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), while addressing a town hall event in New Hampshire on Monday, revealed that she was told to "smile more" in an effort to woo male voters for her 2020 presidential bid.
A voter, during the event, had asked the 2020 Democratic contender how can a woman running for president influence male voters to back her. Warren replied to the question with a simple answer, saying: "Give them a tough, smart woman to vote for!"
"So, I’m out here every day trying to talk to people about [my campaign], trying to bring more people into the fight, but if you’ve got more ideas ― I was told what I needed to do was smile more," Warren added with a sarcastic smile, prompting laughter from the crowd, according to The Hill.
The senator further said: "I see this as a lot of women, and a lot of men, want us to have a country that works for not just a handful but a country that works for everyone. And that’s what I’m counting on.”
The phrase "smile more" is a common derivative used often to denigrate serious women. It was infamously used against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential run.
The Massachusetts senator has been battling attacks from her 2020 Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Both the contenders, over the past week, painted Warren's approach as angry and combative.
Biden, in a Medium article published last week, accused Warren of having an "angry, unyielding viewpoint." He, however, did not explicitly mention her name. Warren, in response to the article, issued a fundraising email on Friday with a subject line, saying: "I am angry and I own it."
“Over and over, we are told that women are not allowed to be angry," she wrote in the mail. "It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet."