GOP Finally Admits There Are More Than 2 Genders

The GOP has long fetishized a bygone (and arguably imaginary) “simpler” America, where men feared God, fired guns, and came home to a warm meal cooked for them by their buxom and unvaccinated wives. So imagine my surprise when a survey sent out to Montanans by the conservative super PAC More Jobs, Less Government offered three options for someone’s gender. No, the extra option wasn’t “prefer not to answer” or “nonbinary”—Montana isn’t some hairy-legged, liberal hellhole! Survey takers got to choose between “Male,” “Female, Homemaker,” and “Female, Working Woman.”

First reported by The 19th, the super PAC sent out this poll to test messages attacking Matt Rosendale, Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy’s anticipated primary challenger. (The 19th notes it’s unclear how many people the survey was sent to.) Sheehy is backed by more establishment pols in the party while Rosendale is—as the New York Times describes—the far-right, “anti-abortion, election-denying Republican agitator.” For what it’s worth, Sheehy is also anti-abortion but I’m gathering from the way the Montana GOP establishment is freaking out over Rosendale’s expected campaign announcement, Sheehy is anti-abortion in a more “acceptable way”? Unclear. Speaking of “unclear,” Rosendale did have a scandal in 2023 where he claims he wasn’t aware he took a photo with a bunch of neo-nazis. We’re dealing with bad dudes, but who is surprised?

Anyways, the party of “my pronouns are ‘Kiss/My/Ass’” is throwing everyone for a loop with these three gender options. One polling expert suggested to The 19th that this poll is what’s called a “push poll” that’s intended more to communicate the values and messaging of a candidate rather than gather information from respondents. In this case, the aim is to let Montanans know that while Sheehy isn’t as off-the-rails fascist as Rosendale, he still honors traditional gendered expectations of women and demonizes financial autonomy. Such an important nuance to communicate. The poll options might as well read, “Female, Good kind” or “Female, Bad kind.” Your choice!

Grace Panetta, who wrote the original article for The 19th, suggested “sheer incompetence” as another possible explanation for the bizarre options. Perhaps “the vendor [was] cutting corners to save a few bucks by clumsily combining questions on gender & marital status,” she wrote on Twitter. Seeing as how sheer incompetence and affinity for antiquated gender roles tend to make up most GOP strategies, both seem like a good guess. But what do I know? I am simply “Female, Stupid kind.”