Voter Gender Gap Wider, Group Says

The emphasis in Congress on balancing the budget, cutting taxes and exposing campaign finance abuses has alienated many women voters, widening the political gender gap in advance of next year’s midterm elections, a women’s advocacy group reported Monday.

A voter survey commissioned by Emily’s List, a fund-raising organization for female political candidates, suggests that women tend to be concerned about health reform, child care and education issues and feel disconnected from the debates dominating Congress this year.

“The problem is that the issues that have the largest effects on people’s lives aren’t being talked about,” said Mary Beth Cahill, executive director of the Washington-based political action committee. “Women are afraid that their children are not getting a good enough education to compete in the future. They want an agenda that will affect their lives.”

The survey of 1,325 registered voters, conducted in mid-October, asked respondents whether they would be more likely to vote for a Democrat or a Republican in a generic race for Congress. Among women, Democrats enjoyed a 15-point lead (51% to 36%), while men favored Republicans by about the same margin (50% to 36%).

The resulting gender gap is 10 percentage points greater than it was before the 1996 election, according to Emily’s List. The organization, which generally supports Democratic candidates, said that Republicans are likely to maintain control of the House and Senate unless Democrats do a better job of articulating issues of concern to female voters.

In the “post-balanced budget” era, the organization said, a legislative agenda focusing on educational investment would attract more support among women than one stressing tax cuts and tax simplification, which appeal more to men.

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“The agenda for tax reform is not interesting for women voters,” said Celinda Lake, the pollster who conducted the survey. There is a sense that the Republicans, while doing their job, aren’t talking about issues that affect the lives of women.”

The survey shows that minority women constitute the most solid bloc of Democratic support, with about 66% identifying themselves as Democrats. Suburban, so-called soccer moms and professional women, who are among the most sought-after constituencies for both Democrats and Republicans, are somewhat more supportive of Republican views on the economy than they were two years ago, according to the survey.