Kamala Harris won women cat owners but most dog owners are Republican

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The lead-up to the 2024 election was all about cat ladies. But in the end, dogs had their day.

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President-elect Donald Trump won slightly more than half of voters who own either cats or dogs, but received a big assist from dog owners, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. Dog owners were much more likely to support the Republican than Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Cat owners were split between the two candidates.

About two-thirds of voters said they owned a dog or cat, but pet owners don’t usually get much attention from politicians. This year, however, comments from Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator, J.D. Vance about “childless cat ladies” became a campaign issue. Taylor Swift signed her Instagram endorsement of Harris in September as “Taylor Swift Childless Cat Lady.”

Harris won decisive support from women who own a cat but not dogs. However, those voters made up a relatively small slice of the electorate, and pet owners as a whole did not seem to hold Vance’s remarks against the GOP ticket.

And Harris found success with female cat owners, but not men who own cats. Childless or not, women who only owned a cat were more likely to support Harris than were dog owners, or voters who had a cat and a dog. About six in 10 women who owned a cat but not a dog supported Harris, according to AP VoteCast.

She did similarly well among women who did not own either kind of pet.

Her success with women cat owners didn’t translate to men. Trump narrowly won the backing of men who only owned cats — slightly more than half of supported him.

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It’s impossible to know how much Vance’s comments played into Harris’ success with women who only had cats. Most of those voters had a “very” or “somewhat” unfavourable opinion of Vance, and more likely to dislike him than women who only own dogs or women who have cats and dogs. They were also more likely than female voters overall to have a negative view of Trump and the Republican Party.

According to AP VoteCast, only about 4 in 10 female voters that only owned a cat were Republicans. More voters are dog owners, and Trump did better with them.

If anything, the result of the 2024 election suggests that Democrats may have some work to do with dog owners. Voters who owned a dog, including those who owned a cat as well, were more likely to support Trump, and they made up a bigger share of the electorate.

Cat owners who didn’t also have a dog made up only about 15% of voters. About 2 in 10 voters, by contrast, owned both kinds of pets, and about 3 in 10 only had a dog.

While Trump’s campaign did not make the same appeals to dog owners that Harris’ campaign did with cat owners, Trump did falsely claim that immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating dogs and cats. But, as with the Vance remarks, there is no evidence that Trump’s statements ultimately influenced pet owners’ decisions.

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Party loyalty was likely a major factor — about 6 in 10 men who only own dogs identified as Republicans, as did about half of women that own dogs.

Neither Trump, nor Harris, own pets, which meant no dogs accompanied the presidential candidates on the campaign. It’s possible that future campaigns could benefit from a little more bark.

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