Donald Trump portrays himself as a “protector” of women, who as president will safeguard them from inflation, undocumented immigrants, crime and foreign threats he often speaks about in exaggerated terms. Women will “no longer be thinking about abortion,” since states now make their laws unilaterally, he declares, nodding to the end of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to the procedure. And while American women are “more stressed and depressed and unhappy,” Trump says, “I will fix all of that, women.”

The comments are part of a provocative new pitch the Republican presidential nominee is making with fewer than six weeks left until Election Day, as he seeks to narrow what polls show is a considerable deficit among women, who have accounted for more than half of voters in recent elections. Like much of what Trump says, his words have quickly become a polarizing force, interviews show: While the former president’s message has resonated with some women who say it is reassuring, others called it paternalistic or insulting and recoiled from his assertion that he helped women by making abortion a state issue.

“I don’t want to see a bunch of White guys telling me what I can and can’t do,” said Darlene Gutman, a 55-year-old former Trump voter who soured on him over abortion rights and who plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’m an educated, intelligent woman — don’t tell me what’s best for me,” added Gutman, who lives near Charlotte in an area where Trump is making a campaign stop Wednesday.

At the same time, other conservative-leaning women more concerned about immigration and crime welcomed Trump’s remarks. Rebecca Eisert, 72, one of North Carolina’s many unaffiliated voters, said she carries a gun and knows other women who fear for their safety. “We’re worried about the state of what’s going on — illegal aliens, drunk drivers. … The police, their hands are tied,” she said.

Internal Republican divisions about appealing to women and talking about abortion have reemerged this week, underscoring the challenges the party faces up and down the ballot headed toward November. After Bernie Moreno, the Republican running against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), suggested that “a lot of suburban women” are focused only on abortion, adding “it’s a little crazy,” and that abortion isn’t an issue for women who are over 50, former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley publicly rebuked him. “Are you trying to lose the election? Asking for a friend,” she posted on X. (A spokesperson for Moreno said he was joking and that women care as much as men about the economy, the border and crime.)

In North Carolina, a key battleground where polls show a close presidential race, Republicans fear that gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has made demeaning comments about women and is embroiled in a scandal about an old account linked to him on a porn site, could further alienate suburban women and drag down the GOP ticket.

“It’s an insane message,” former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock said of Trump’s recent assertions. (Comstock represented a suburban Northern Virginia district and plans to vote for Harris.) “Women, first of all, can take care of themselves. They need to be protected from men like him.”

Trump lost women by 15 points to Joe Biden in 2020, exit poll data show, and some pre-election surveys this year show a wide gender gap. Many women have expressed concerns about Trump’s record and his personal conduct, voicing anger in recent years about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which Trump has taken credit for and which led to strict abortion bans in some states. The former president has also made sexist comments about female political opponents and bragged on tape about groping women. More than a dozen women have accused him of sexual assault or aggressive unwanted advances, and he was held liable for sexual abuse in a civil case. (Trump has denied any wrongdoing.)

The Republican nominee is seeking to leverage his political advantage on issues such as immigration, as part of his appeal to women voters. Trump “is “responding directly to the fears of women that are felt in this country,” said Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson.

“If women want a president who is going to restore law and order and protect their families and bring down inflation, then President Trump is the only option on the ballot,” she said.

Trump has referred to himself as someone who will protect women frequently over the past few days.

At 11:42 p.m. Friday, Trump took to social media blaring in all capital letters that in a second Trump term, women will “NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION.”

“I WILL PROTECT WOMEN AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE. THEY WILL FINALLY BE HEALTHY, HOPEFUL, SAFE, AND SECURE. THEIR LIVES WILL BE HAPPY, BEAUTIFUL, AND GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote.

Less than 24 hours later, at a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Trump echoed those words. “So, let’s talk about our great women, all right? Because women have gone through a lot; they’ve gone through a lot,” he said. At a rally in Indiana, Pa., on Monday, Trump repeatedly called himself women’s “protector.”

Some attendees at the Pennsylvania rally said they noticed the recent change in Trump’s messaging to women. Tim Tobin attended the rally with his wife, Rebecca, and observed that Trump “took a different tack” and was “trying to hit the direct message on that abortion issue” and “articulating that pretty well.”

“That’s their hardest issue and a lot of my wife’s friends, that is their one single reason” for not supporting Trump, Tobin said.

As for Trump’s promise to be a protector for women, he said: “It sounds okay. I know he’s trying to win them over, but I don’t know,” he said. “It might be too schmoozy.”

While Trump has said that abortion laws should now be left to the states, he’s also offered confusing answers on the issue. Trump said he opposed a ballot initiative in Florida that would make abortion legal until fetal viability, one day after he said the state’s six-week abortion ban was too restrictive.

Trump’s claims that women will be happier and more confident under him didn’t bother Rebecca Tobin. But she said that they might bother some of her friends.

“I don’t think it’s too masculine for me. Many women, all of my friends, will say, ‘What?’” said Tobin, 61. “I don’t take it like that because I support him. … I can see where that’s going to be ripped apart tonight in the news like they do everything else.”

Gutman, the former Trump supporter from the Charlotte area, backed the Republican in 2016, believing he would help the economy, and said she usually votes Republican. But she voted Democratic in 2020 amid fears about Roe’s demise that are now realized. She said she felt that Trump’s “protector” language could also rub people the wrong way.

“Because he has always been very degrading towards women, and I think that actually makes him sound very disingenuous,” she said.

Pam Baetz, a 63-year-old Republican and Trump voter, said she likes the “protector” message.

“I’m a conservative and I’m a Christian, and I believe that the woman’s role is to be protected by a man, and I believe God gave those roles, so that’s not derogatory to a woman,” she said.

Some men who support Trump said they recognized that Trump needed to improve his standing with women.

“They keep saying he’s not getting the suburban female vote, he might not win,” said Glenn Collins, 65, who attended Trump’s rally in Indiana. “So I say whatever it’s going to take for him to get over the line.”