Many Republican voters have revealed in a radio report the secret about former President Donald Trump that they're keeping from friends and family.
Multiple conservative women in midwestern states told National Public Radio on Monday that they're secretly voting for Vice President Kamala Harris — and thrilled to be doing so.
"And as I was filling in that rectangle it was like, ‘Hell yeah, girl,'" 35-year-old A, identified by an initial to protect her identity — and her voting secret — told NPR. "You did something so powerful for yourself, and for a lot of women."
A, of Illinois, said she could face backlash in her religious community if word spread she voted for Harris — but that didn't stop her from choosing the Democrat.
The Illinois woman reportedly said her decision was based on what she felt was best for her daughters, even if she could not tell her boyfriend or father.
According to NPR, A is far from alone.
The report revealed Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin's message to women voters that they are not compelled to share their Election Day decisions has resonated with voters such as T, in Wisconsin.
T mailed her absentee ballot from a family member's home rather than risk her Trump-supporting husband finding out she voted for Harris, NPR reported.
“It’s not that he would ever stop me or anything," T, a lifelong Republican who thinks Trump is a "buffoon," said with a sigh. "It’s just I just can’t deal with that animosity."
Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist at Florida International University, told NPR the impulse to keep a vote secret isn't new — but being shy about not voting for Trump is.
“It’s largely being driven by abortion,” he argued.
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K, a Midwest red state resident, told NPR her Trump breaking point came in 2020 when he clutched a Bible and called on police to shut down a protest.
“I was horrified," said K.
But her vote, like A's, was as much for the young women in her family as for herself.
“[My husband] assumes I’m voting Republican," said K. "And I’m thinking, 'Yeah and my nieces have less bodily autonomy and rights at their ages than I had.'”