Study shows women are more likely to vote for Trump during their 'fertile window' - but it's not because they have a crush on him

Women may be more likely to vote for Donald Trump if they're in the most fertile part of their cycle, a study suggests.  

Researchers in New York City revisited 2010 study that looked the impact of a woman's menstrual cycle on who they voted for in the 2008 election between Barack Obama and John McCain. 

The original work suggested that while they were ovulating - which is when the risk of pregnancy is highest - female voters favored Obama due to 'genetic fitness,' such as age and attractiveness.

However, the study had a small sample size with little diversity, as most participants were young, white women. 

This led a team of psychologists at the New School for Social Research to conduct a follow-up ahead of the 2020 election against Trump and Joe Biden. 

Among more than 500 participants, the researchers found a small but 'statistically significant' relationship between female voter fertility and their candidate preference.

They noted that women in their fertile window had a slightly increased preference for Donald Trump over Barack Obama. 

Interestingly, they found that this was due to his intelligence rather than attractiveness.

A study published this month found a slight link between female fertility and voter preference, with women in their fertile window having a small preference for Donald Trump

Researchers found that women who preferred Trump were drawn to intelligence rather than attractiveness; shown here: female voters at a 2019 MAGA rally in New Hampshire

The team cautioned that because link was small, factors other than fertility most likely influenced political preferences. 

The researchers, led by New School psychologist Jessica L Engelbrecht, recruited 549 American women between July and August 2020. 

Roughly 68 percent were Caucasian, 12 percent were Asian American, nine percent were African American, six percent were Hispanic, and the remainder were another race. 

The average participant age was 32. 

All of the women had menstrual cycles that were a normal length (three to seven days), were not pregnant, were not using any form of hormonal birth control like pills or intrauterine devices (IUDs), and did not have any health issues that would affect their fertility. 

The women were told they would be asked to think about politics and consider hypothetical candidate matchups that were not actually going to be on the ballot (Trump vs Obama, for example).

They were given 14 different electoral matchups in a random order, drawn from Democratic (Obama, Biden, Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren) and Republican (Trump, Mike Pence, and Mitt Romney) candidates.

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In each matchup, the women were asked which candidate they would support in the 2020 election, assuming they were eligible and running. 

They then had to consider each candidate individually and rate them on a scale of how physically attractive, sexually coercive, and intelligent they are on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being 'not at all' and 5 being 'extremely'). 

Additionally, the researchers asked if the women intended to vote and to rate their political affiliation from 1 ('extremely liberal') to 9 ('extremely conservative') and 5 being 'middle of the road/neither.' 

And the team measured the participants' level of Dark Triad traits, which include narcissism, psychpathy, and Machiavellianism - this is characterized by manipulativeness, deceitfulness, and high levels of self-interest.

The researchers found an increased likelihood to vote for Trump over Obama in a hypothetical race during periods of 'high conception,' such as ovulation.

Additionally, the team noted that how intelligent participants thought the candidate was more commonly influenced preference over attractiveness. This suggests that those who preferred Trump felt this way because they thought he was smarter than opponents.

This was a noteable difference from the original 2010 study, whih suggested that attractiveness significantly influenced female voter preferences.  

And women who displayed more traits associated with psychopathy, such as lack of guilt and empathy, had a slight preference for Trump. 

Previous studies have found that women are more likely to make snap, impulsive and controversial decisions around roughly the middle of their cycle - when they are ovulating, and the most fertile.

Experts say this is because of a rush of the sex hormone estrogen, which can have a profound impact on behavior.

The updated study was published earlier this month in the journal Psychological Reports.