Since the inception of the 19th Amendment, women have voted at a higher rate than men, with over 63% of women stating that they had voted in the presidential election of 2016 compared to 59% of men. This is not a new trend, but rather one dating back to the 1980s. Starting in the presidential election of 1984, a gender gap began to develop in each election, slowly increasing over time (Igielnik, 2020).
While not substantial, a 4 point difference raises some questions into why each gender votes the way they do. Why does this gender gap exist within voting in the United States, and why does it continue to widen? A plausible explanation can be found within the topic and history of women’s rights. Women have been able to vote for a much shorter portion of US history than men, as women’s right to vote was only established a mere century ago. Looking at this, one can assume that women have possibly been motivated by this somewhat recent accomplishment to make their voices heard within the US. In contrast, men, having already had the right to vote for a few centuries, view it with slightly less importance.
Another factor could be the breaking of older, societal norms. As stated by scholar Susan Carroll, “‘Women had been socialized pre-suffrage,... Maybe it wasn’t proper for women to be involved in politics’” (Rampell, 2014). Both men and women had been conditioned to view women’s suffrage as socially unacceptable and inappropriate. When women finally began to realize the falsity of this belief, the societal norm began to break down, slowly causing more and more women to vote. This breakdown has continued to increase, resulting in a slowly-widening gender gap.
A similar gender gap emerged in the 1990s within party affiliation and candidate choice, with women being more likely to identify as Democrats and men more likely to identify as Republicans. This gap has continued to widen over time, hitting an all-time high in the 2016 election with a whopping eleven-point difference between men and women. 52% of men voted for the Republican candidate Donald Trump compared to a mere 43% of women (Center for the American Woman and Politics, 2017).
Female voters’ tendency to affiliate with the Democrat Party is primarily due to the party's stances on certain political issues, particularly abortion, a topic which many women feel passionately about. When Ronald Reagan’s administration announced their opposition to abortion in 1980, many female voters were pushed away from the Republican Party and into the Democratic Party, creating the start of the gender gap in party affiliation (Arnold, 2020). As the Democratic Party continues to espouse socially progressive views, they continue to attract groups, such as women, that are disillusioned by the Republican Party.
2 comments:
It will be really interesting to see what the outcome of the current election will be. I wonder if there will be a draw to vote democrat because of Joe Biden's appointing of Kamala Harris.
Wow! Really enjoyed this post! I had no idea that this gap even existed. I liked the point you made about how maybe women are more inclined to vote since it is a relatively new right for us (which is horrible). This is my first election where I will be voting/ even allowed to vote and it never really occurred to me that only a few generations ago I would not have even been allowed to vote. I think it is terrible that it even took that long for (white) women to acquire the right to vote/ be recognized as Americans, but on the other hand I feel really fortunate that I'll have the opportunity to vote.And although I would argue that the recent ratification of the 19th amendment is not the only reason for this gap, I think the fact that only a hundred years ago women could not vote is why women should be mobilizing and voting.
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