Voting the Gender Gap

by Lois Duke Whitaker (Editor), Lois Duke Whitaker (Contribution by), Barbara Norrander (Contribution by), Kathleen A Frankovic (Contribution by), Cal Clark (Contribution by)

Overview

This book concentrates on the gender gap in voting--the difference in the proportion of women and men voting for the same candidate. Evident in every presidential election since 1980, this polling phenomenon reached a high of 11 percentage points in the 1996 election. The contributors discuss the history, complexity, and ways of analyzing the gender gap; the gender gap in relation to partisanship; motherhood, ethnicity, and the impact of parental status on the gender gap; and the gender gap in races involving female candidates. Voting the Gender Gap analyzes trends in voting while probing how women's political empowerment and gender affect American politics and the electoral process.

Contributors are Susan J. Carroll, Erin Cassese, Cal Clark, Janet M. Clark, M. Margaret Conway, Kathleen A. Dolan, Laurel Elder, Kathleen A. Frankovic, Steven Greene, Leonie Huddy, Mary-Kate Lizotte, Barbara Norrander, Margie Omero, and Lois Duke Whitaker.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252092855
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lois Duke Whitaker is a professor of political science at Georgia Southern University. She is the editor of Women in Politics: Outsiders or Insiders? and the coeditor of The Democrats Must Lead: The Case for a Progressive Democratic Party.

Table of Contents

Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Lois Duke Whitaker 1. The History of the Gender Gaps 9 Barbara Norrander 2. Women and the Polls: Questions, Answers, Images 33 Kathleen A. Frankovic 3. The Reemergence of the Gender Gap in 2004 50 Cal Clark and ]anet ALM. Clark 4. Security Moms and Presidential Politics: Women Voters in the 2004 Election 75 Susan I. Carroll 5. Women Voters, Women Candidates: Is There a Gender Gap in Support for Women Candidates? 91 Kathleen A. Dolan 6. Using Exit Polls to Explore the Gender Gap in Campaigns for Senate and Governor oS8 Margie Ormero 7. Parenthood and the Gender Gap 119 Laurel Elder and Steven Greene 8. Sources of Political Unity and Disunity among Women: Placing the Gender Gap in Perspective 141 Leonie Huddy, Erin Cassese, and Mary-Kate Lizotte 9. The Gender Gap: A Comparison across Racial and Ethnic Groups 170 M. Margaret Conway Conclusion: When Women Vote, Are Women Empowered? 185 Lois Duke Whitaker Bibliography 191 Contributors 207 Index 211

Editorial Reviews

"Complete with insightful analysis and interesting conclusions, this book examines an important and much-speculated-on topic from a number of perspectives. The chapters report on original data analysis and examine factors and aspects of the gender gap that have not been examined elsewhere."—Christina Wolbrecht, author of The Politics of Women's Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change

From the Publisher