COLUMBUS, Ohio – Women in four key states – Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – could decide who occupies the White House next year. And they may be turning away from President Donald Trump, according to a newly released poll.

Yet, many women voters in these states remain undecided. And women at this point are a little less motivated than men to vote in November’s presidential election, according to the poll from Baldwin Wallace, Ohio Northern and Michigan’s Oakland universities.

(View all of cleveland.com’s coverage of the Great Lakes state polling here. )

In the Great Lakes states, more women voters said they would support the Democratic Party’s yet unnamed candidate over Trump if the election were held today. There was a clear gender divide in the results:

In Ohio, 45.6% of women would vote for the Democrat and 34.4% for Trump. On the other hand, 44.9% of men would vote for Trump and 42.4% would vote for the Democrat.

In Pennsylvania, 49.2% of women would go for the Democrat and 34.7% would go for Trump. In comparison, 44.7% of men would go for the Democrat and 40.3% would vote for Trump.

In Michigan, 53% of women would back the Democratic nominee, while only 26.9% would back Trump. Among men, 41.5% would back Trump and 39.6% would back the Democratic nominee.

Among Wisconsin women, 51.9% would vote for the Democrat and 28% would vote for Trump. Among Wisconsin men, 42.1% would vote for the Democrat and 41% would vote for Trump.

In all four states, the Democrat came out ahead in the poll overall, with women’s support for the Democrat overtaking the men’s support for Trump.

“I think there’s a strong chance women will decide the election," said Lauren Copeland, a BW political science professor who is associate director of the school’s Community Research Institute. "The question is, which way they decide the election? We know Republicans are much better at turning out to vote than Democrats are. So who the Democratic Party nominates has to get women to turn out. I think it will all hinge on turnout.”

Women voters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin oppose Donald Trump by wide margins, Baldwin Wallace University's Great Lakes poll found.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

In 2016, Trump won by narrow margins in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, reinforcing the importance of turnout. He won Ohio by 8 points.

Many women dislike Trump because he’s made numerous comments about women’s physical appearance. He’s bragged about groping women’s bodies. His administration’s policies have separated immigrant children from their mothers and fathers.

Yet many Republicans are able to set aside Trump’s tweets and public outbursts in favor of his policies or his nomination of conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court, Copeland said.

The universities polled more than 1,000 registered voters in each state from Jan. 8-20. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 to 3.3 percentage points for the statewide results in each state, higher for sub groups.

The survey was conducted online among self-identified registered voters in Michigan (1,023), Ohio (1,031), Pennsylvania (1,037) and Wisconsin (1,038) using Qualtrics, a firm that aggregates samples for surveys. BW said the survey included quotas for age, education, and gender for each state based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Women respondents were slightly less motivated than men to vote in the presidential election, the poll found:

In Ohio, 88.6% of women were very or somewhat motivated, compared to 95.8% of men.

In Pennsylvania, 92.8% of women were very or somewhat motivated, compared 95.9% of men.

In Michigan, 89.6% of women were motivated, compared to 91.6% of men.

In Wisconsin, 91% of women were motivated, compared to 94.1% of men.

Copeland said men’s motivation may have to do with Trump supporters hoping to keep him in office.

“I wonder when we field this question in April and will likely know who the Democratic nominee is, if that (answer) will change," she said. “I think what we’re seeing right now is a lot of uncertainty with the Democratic Party.”

In all the states, women disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy at higher numbers than they approved of it.

They also disapproved at higher numbers than men, an indication that more women may be losing their jobs, experiencing a reduction in hours or being forced to work as consultants without benefits:

Among Ohio women, 42.1% somewhat or strongly disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy, compared to 36.6% of men who disapproved. Only 38.1% of women approved, while 48.9% of men approved of the president’s handling of the economy.

Among Pennsylvania women, 44.9% disapproved, compared to 37.9% of men. Among approval, women were at 39.2% and men were at 49.3%

Among Michigan women, 50.7% disapproved, compared to 37.9% of men. Women were at 29.5% approval and men were at 43.4%.

Among Wisconsin women, 50.1% disapproved and 41.6% of men disapproved. Among approval women were 30.1% and men were at 45.8%.

Those numbers about women and the economy are surprising, Copeland said, because economic data such as unemployment numbers are strong.

One of Trump’s campaign slogans is “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs." But that message may be resonating more with men, she said.

“Men are more likely to think the economy is strong,” she said.

This is one in a series of cleveland.com stories about the Great Lakes Poll, conducted by Baldwin Wallace University in partnership with Ohio Northern University in Ada and Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. You can find links to all of the stories here.

Read more:

Donald Trump has ground to make up in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

See cleveland.com’s comprehensive coverage of the 2020 Great Lakes Poll

Poll of Great Lakes voters shows good news for Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders

It’s the economy, voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania say about the 2020 election: BW poll

Should popular vote replace electoral college? Voters solidly in favor of move

Immigration was a key issue in 2016: What do voters think about it today?

Voters distrust social media as source of campaign news, worry about foreign interference