The increasing role of women in leadership roles may be both a cause and effect of public attitudes. Recent politicization of science amidst increasing polarization of American politics juxtaposed with examples of female leadership (Fleadership) throughout the U.S (and abroad) begs the question of how gender impacts crisis response decision-making. Here, we investigate at the state level, female gubernatorial leadership, recent presidential (and VP) voting patterns, climate denial, and COVID/100k. These reveal correlations between climate denial, high COVID/100k, and presidential votes for exclusively male candidates. Americans who embraced federal Fleadership in 2016 and again in 2020 were less likely to deny climate change and spread COVID-19. The results suggest that rather than Fleadership inspiring responsible COVID preventative behavior at state or national levels, or leading to better understanding of climate change, the populations who tend to elect females, also understand science more than those who do not.