Beyond how Democrats, Republicans, different generations or different genders voted in the 2024 election, there’s another important demographic we need to address. Pet owners, of course.
Results of an AP VoteCast survey reveal that, while more dog owners backed President-elect Donald Trump, more cat owners voted for Vice President Kamala Harris. Overall, 55% of dog owners voted for Trump and 54% of cat owners voted for Harris.
Trump’s win therefore aligns with data from the American Pet Products Association that indicates there are more households with dogs in the U.S. than cats (58 million dog households compared to 40 million cat households).
AP VoteCast results also showed that 52% of all pet-owning households surveyed voted for Trump, the Republican candidate. Overall, 53% of households with both cats and dogs also voted for the incoming president.
When results were broken down into male and female voters, the only group that favored Harris, the Democratic candidate, was women who only had cats as pets at 59%. That’s the same percentage as men who only have dogs as pets and who voted for Trump.
During the 2024 campaign season, comments Vice President-elect JD Vance made about “cat ladies” received backlash. This backlash included a snarky social media comment from pop star Taylor Swift.
Women who own only dogs, women who own both dogs and cats and men who own only cats all favored Trump at 52%. Men who owned both dogs and cats favored Trump even more at 56%.
We should note here that neither Trump nor Harris actually have a pet of their own.
In fact, The Washington Post reported in 2019 that Trump was the first president in a century without a dog. According to the outlet, Trump said he did not have time for a pet. Axios reported this year that Harris is also pet-free.
President Joe Biden’s German shepherds, Commander and Major, have been known for causing trouble. He and First Lady Jill Biden also have a cat named Willow.
Other notable presidential pets include President Bill Clinton’s cat Socks and his dog Buddy; President Barack Obama’s Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny; George W. Bush’s Scottish terriers Barney and Miss Beazley, as well as President Ronald Reagan’s dogs Lucky and Rex. President Calvin Coolidge is one of the presidents with a more unusual pet, a raccoon named Rebecca, per the Humane Society of the United States.