See the inspiring stories Come meet us Time to legalize weed?
OPINION
Carly Fiorina

Kirsten Powers: Fiorina's 'Faces' flattened Trump

Sexist snark can damage female candidates, but Carly Fiorina turned the Donald's put-down into a Trump take-down.

Kirsten Powers

It was only a matter of time: Donald Trump launched a sexist broadside against the GOP’s only female candidate for president.

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks at the National Federation of Republican Women Convention in Phoenix on Sept. 7, 2015.

While sitting with a Rolling Stone reporter recently, Trump glanced up and saw his rival Carly Fiorina on the television. "Look at that face!” he exclaimed. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! … I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”

Trump later claimed he wasn’t talking about her face, even though he used the word “face.” He pretended it was her “persona” that was the issue.

Column: Hillary Clinton has become the anti-woman candidate

It’s clear what he meant. It’s equally clear that this type of sexist snarking can damage a female candidate’s standing.

The Women’s Media Center, She Should Run and Political Parity commissioned studies in 2010 and 2013 via a joint project called, “Name It. Change It.” The studies examined gender based challenges women face when they run for office. The 2010 study found that, “Sexism, even mild sexist language, has an impact on voters’ likelihood to vote for a female candidate and on how favorable they feel toward a woman seeking office. It also affects perceptions of trustworthiness, empathy, values and effectiveness.”

So, someone makes a piggish comment about a female candidate’s appearance and she’s the one who suffers. Of course.

Even neutral and positive attention paid to a woman’s appearance can harm her campaign, “Name it. Change it.” discovered in the 2013 study. But fawning over a man’s perfectly tailored suits or mocking a comb over has zero impact on a male candidates standing.

Trump’s massaging of his remarks still has the potential to damage Fiorina, since he claimed to be critiquing her “persona,” which presumably means he finds her unlikeable. “For women candidates, there is a correlation between being qualified and being likable,” The Barbara Lee Foundation found in its 2012 study, “Pitch Perfect: Winning Strategies for Women Candidates.” “Because qualifications and likability are so closely linked, there are dual negative consequences for women when they make mistakes on the campaign trail,” the foundation reported. Not responding correctly to sexist smears can count as a significant mistake. These correlations did not exist for male candidates.

Iowa View: Donald Trump's sexism as over the top as he is

Column: Skip the debates and try candidate karaoke instead

What seems to matter the most in these scenarios is how the female candidate reacts to sexist put-downs. “Name It. Change It.” reported, “When the woman candidate or a validating third-party organization stands up to confront sexist and racist coverage, voters respond well. The woman candidate responding herself shows the biggest gains.”

For example, in 2012, when then-Illinois congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth’s Republican opponent, then-representative Joe Walsh, asserted that, "the only debate Ms. Duckworth is actually interested in having is which outfit she'll be wearing for her big speech," Duckworth didn’t let it pass. "Yes, I do sometimes look at the clothes that I wear," the Iraq War veteran said at a later debate. "But for most of my adult life, I've worn one color. It’s called camouflage." Duckworth won the race.

Fiorina is engaging in the same kind of political jujitsu with Trump. “Ladies, look at this face. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman,” Fiorina exclaimed at a Friday speech to Republican women. “I am proud of every year and every wrinkle. ... And look at all of your faces. The face of leadership … in our party, the party of women’s suffrage.”

The audience roared with applause. Like Duckworth, Fiorina did not play the victim. There were no cries for an apology or choked back tears. She responded with strength.

Then a Fiorina super-PAC released a video, “Faces,” featuring Fiorina’s remarks as faces of women of all ages flashed on the screen. The message was subtle, but clear: Trump’s attack wasn’t just on Fiorina. It was on all women.

Score one for Carly.

Kirsten Powers writes weekly for USA TODAY and is author of The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of ContributorsTo read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.

Featured Weekly Ad