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Gender And Voting
by Dina Rashed
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Last Tuesday about fifty-four percent of women voted for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, handing him the popular vote that had been widely predicted to go to Bush. If men alone had voted, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush would have won the presidency hands-down.
Generally, Gore led among women, blacks and Hispanics, while Bush led among men and whites.
Bush, who all along polled well among married men and women with children, led among parents. But more single people picked Gore.
According to numbers supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Census and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), in every presidential election since 1980 the proportion of eligible female adults who voted exceeded the proportion of eligible male adults who voted. Prior to 1980, the rate of female voter turnout was lower than that of male voters.
In the 1996 presidential election, female voters turned out 55.5% of those eligible to vote compared to 52.8% of male voters.
Even across racial lines women have been showing more dedication to cast the ballots than men. Among Whites, Hispanics and Blacks, women have voted at higher rates in the past four presidential elections.
Also in 1996, the percentage of voting age population who reported voting among Blacks, was 53.9% for females and 46.6% for males; among Hispanics, 29.3% for females and 24.4% for males and among Whites, females reported 57.2% compared to 54.8% for males.
This year was no different; in several races, the women’s vote was crucial in deciding winners.
The number women running for elected office in last Tuesday’s election increased as well, producing a gender gap resulting in a 25% increase in the number of women governors and a 33% increase in women senators.
Not only did women and African Americans back Gore, but they were also a decisive force behind the victories of Hillary Clinton and Ruth Ann Minner - Delaware governor.
Clinton won the New York senate seat by getting 61% of the women’s votes, 91% of the African American vote, 76 % of the Hispanic vote, and probably a majority of the Jewish vote. She made history for being the first First Lady ever to not only win a senate seat, but she was also the first female senator from that state, who happened to be running for her first public office.
Minner won the Delaware gubernatorial race with 69% of the female vote and 87% of African Americans votes.
According to gender voting patterns in Tuesday’s election, if only men had voted:
George Bush would have locked up Florida with a 53% to 43% margin of victory over Gore for an Electoral College victory. Instead, the female vote, with 54% to Gore, to Bush’s 44% kept Gore’s hopes for Florida’s 25 electoral votes alive.
Bush would have had a clear victory in the country’s popular vote, 53% to 42%; but because women voted 54% to 42% for Gore, he stunned the pundits by winning the popular vote;
Bill Nelson, who won the votes of women 57% to 40% in his race for the U.S. Senate seat from Florida, would have seen his victory dashed 52 to 46% without them;
Jeanne Carnahan would not be coming to the U.S. Senate seat won posthumously by her husband, and would have lost 52%-47%; women voters gave her the edge 53 to 46%;
Debbie Stabenow would have lost to incumbent Senator Spencer Abraham in Michigan 45% to 53%; but women voters’ 55% to 42% support for Stabenow defeated Abraham and conventional wisdom on the invincibility of incumbents;
Governor Howard Dean, who won women’s vote 56% to 33%, would have found himself in a 44% to 44% deadlock after being targeted by conservatives for signing the Vermont civil unions act into law; and,
Governor Jeanne Shaheen would have lost her re-election bid in New Hampshire by 42% to 50%; but women’s strong 56% to 38% support put Shaheen over the top.
In 1998, there were thirteen races where a majority of women voted for a different candidate than did the majority of men, and in fourteen races, the gender gap exceeded ten percentage points, according to CAWP.
For the same year, women voters determined the winners in two senate races in New York and North Carolina, and the gubernatorial race in Maryland. But, in four other races, the men’s vote determined the winners: Bill Owens (R-CO): Jeb Bush (R-FL): A. Paul Cellucci (R-MA), and Robert Taft (R-OH).
President Clinton has been called the women’s President, women chose him twice as their favorite president.
At the time this story was written, final results of the presidential election were far from over. If Al Gore gets to Pennsylvania Avenue, it would be due in part to the voting power of women behind him.
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