'Til politics do us part: Gender gap widens
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
Thu Dec 18, 6:41 AM ET
Lynne and Scott Albert readily agree on family finances, summer vacations and the perfect holiday gifts for their 5-year-old twins - Care Bears for Cammie, a toy monster truck for Josh.
But when it comes to politics, Lynne, an attorney, and Scott, a venture capitalist with an MBA, often disagree about candidates and issues. He's a Republican worried about taxes and government regulations who is "definitely" voting for President Bush next year. She's a Democrat concerned about policies that affect women and children, and she's shopping for the candidate with the best chance of beating Bush.
The couple from Chapel Hill, N.C., aren't unusual. Highly educated men and women increasingly view the political world in dramatically different ways: Men are mostly Republicans, women are predominantly Democrats. A modest gender gap among Americans who don't have college educations balloons for those with a college degree or more.
The political divide between college-educated men and women has been growing for a decade. And the trend has become more important as the number of women getting undergraduate and postgraduate degrees has surged.
"Highly educated women are a new Democratic base, almost to the same extent as union voters and ethnic voters," says Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. Meanwhile, Republicans have made gains among all blue-collar workers, especially men.
The result: The stereotypes of the two political parties - Democrats as the party of the working stiff, Republicans as representing those with money in the bank - no longer fit. Each party has become a more complicated coalition in which social issues and "values" are as much a unifying force as traditional bread-and-butter concerns.
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By Susan Page, USA TODAY
Thu Dec 18, 6:41 AM ET
Lynne and Scott Albert readily agree on family finances, summer vacations and the perfect holiday gifts for their 5-year-old twins - Care Bears for Cammie, a toy monster truck for Josh.
But when it comes to politics, Lynne, an attorney, and Scott, a venture capitalist with an MBA, often disagree about candidates and issues. He's a Republican worried about taxes and government regulations who is "definitely" voting for President Bush next year. She's a Democrat concerned about policies that affect women and children, and she's shopping for the candidate with the best chance of beating Bush.
The couple from Chapel Hill, N.C., aren't unusual. Highly educated men and women increasingly view the political world in dramatically different ways: Men are mostly Republicans, women are predominantly Democrats. A modest gender gap among Americans who don't have college educations balloons for those with a college degree or more.
The political divide between college-educated men and women has been growing for a decade. And the trend has become more important as the number of women getting undergraduate and postgraduate degrees has surged.
"Highly educated women are a new Democratic base, almost to the same extent as union voters and ethnic voters," says Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. Meanwhile, Republicans have made gains among all blue-collar workers, especially men.
The result: The stereotypes of the two political parties - Democrats as the party of the working stiff, Republicans as representing those with money in the bank - no longer fit. Each party has become a more complicated coalition in which social issues and "values" are as much a unifying force as traditional bread-and-butter concerns.
READ MORE
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