The storied election gender gap that for years has shown a broad political division between men and women is morphing into a marriage gap where married men and women are the Republican side of the new divide and unmarried men and women are Democrats.
The latest proof was revealed in a new Economist/YouGov poll that overall showed women back Democrats over Republicans, 48 percent to 30 percent. But when the population is divided, the poll finds that married women favor Republicans over Democrats 41 percent to 34 percent, unmarrieds prefer Democrats 52 percent to 22 percent.
“Democrats don’t get the support of all kinds of women,” said the poll analysis.
“There is also a marriage gap among men. Married men favor the GOP by more than two to one. Unmarried men support Democrats,” said Economist/YouGov.
“There may be many reasons for this. But one important one is age. Younger adults are less likely to be married, and younger voters favor the Democrats. In general, older voters are more likely to call themselves conservatives, and Republicans,” said the polling outfit.
“However, there are also some perceptions about the parties where married and unmarried women differ. Both men and women overall rate the Democratic Party as better than the Republican Party for women. But married women are much less sure. And when it comes to judging the party best for families, married women give the Republican Party a clear edge,” it added.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
