Women Supporting Obama
There have been rivers of real and virtual ink, and days of tv network time dedicated to the (eagerly awaited) massive flight of women from the Obama camp. They would never accept Obama. They would be too angry to vote for him after he beat Clinton. They would blame him for all the slights against Clinton in the media. They would go to McCain that made them “feel secure”. Ironically, underlying many of these predictions there seemed to be a thread of (sometimes minor sometimes glaring) sexism; an assumption that women were so emotional that they’d resent Obama forever, so fearful that they’d go to McCain.
Well it’s a good thing virtual ink is free, because as it turns out, the exodus did not happen.
A recent study of womens opinions by EMILY’S List shows Obama having a 12 point lead over McCain amongst women. This is a bigger lead than the one Kerry had in 2004.
Furthermore women favoring Obama are more likely to be solidified in their vote (as opposed to leaning) and also more likely to say that who gets elected makes a lot of difference to them personally. This is the enthusiasm gap that has garnered slightly less virtual ink than the “women will resent Obama” ink.
The study divides women into four age groups; Generation Y, Generation X, Boomers and Seniors. Obama leads all age groups amongst women. Naturally enough support varies amongst these groups but more suprisingly the group with the smallest margin in Obama’s favor is not Seniors but Boomers, with whom he leads by 6 points. Amongst Generation Y Obama trounces McCain by a massive 30 points. It’s a very impressive lead, but it will be mitigated by the fact that numerically Gen Y is smaller than the Boomer generation (keep in mind that Gen Y has a smaller age arc, 18 to 27 than the boomers 44-62).
So it would appear, foaming-at-the-mouth PUMA’S nonwithstanding, that women are, all in all, supporting Obama over McCain. Now if I can just find a way to make those snarky naysayers swallow virtual ink….
You had me going there for a minute!