DemDaily: The Gender Gap

The 2016 presidential election underscores the gap between women and men in politics - on more than just one front.

Although women were granted the right to vote in 1920, they did not equal men's turnout numbers until the 1980 election.

Since 1980, however, women have made up at least 50% of the electorate, and voted for Democratic candidates in every election since.

This year's race, however, promises to exceed all records (the largest margin was 20% for Bill Clinton in 1996).

In 2012 women chose Barack Obama over Mitt Romney 55% to 44%. Romney won among men, 52% to 45%.

In the current presidential contest women are favoring Hillary Clinton by over 20%, while Donald Trump leads among men with roughly 7%.

It is no surprise, given Trump's history of comments regarding women, that those numbers are expected to go up even further.

Never has the margin between male and female support for candidates been so broad.

The fact that women voters have also voted in larger #s for Democrats in almost every presidential since 1964 bodes well for Clinton and down ballot races nationwide.

Of Note: Although women make up over half of the electorate consistently, they comprise only 19.4% of the current elected representatives in the United States House of Representatives-- ranking 97th among 193 countries - and behind Saudi Arabia (19.9%), Iraq (26.5%), and Afghanistan (27.7%). The top three countries were Rwanda (63.8%), Bolivia (53.1%), and Cuba (48.9%).

In 2016 we have an opportunity to elect a woman to the highest office in the country for the first time in its history.

It has never been more important for women to get out and vote!

As always, DemList will keep you informed!

DemList
Connecting you to The Party
Connecting you to Each Other

Kimberly Scott
Publisher