Mephisto,
I didn't want to clutter up the Sun thread with an off topic response to your post. There is no question in my mind that Bush will not win the women's vote. We always speak of the "gender gap" in the context of the women's vote. The reality is that there is an offsetting men's gender gap. Even if he wins the presidency, Kerry will not get a majority of the men's vote.
The New York Times published an interesting poll today. I am not trying to bait you. I am posting the results with the comment that the women in my circle are every bit as knowledgeable about politics as their male counterparts.
nytimes.com
He's Got Facts, She's Fascinated
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: September 19, 2004
He's Got Facts,
She's Fascinated
ANOTHER gender gap has appeared, this time on a poll testing men's and women's knowledge of issues in the presidential campaign. On the eight-question quiz administered to 1,845 adults, men were more likely on every question to give the right answer.
The biggest gender gap was on the question asking which candidate supported moving American troops from Europe and South Korea to other places. Sixty percent of the men correctly identified President Bush, versus 43 percent of the women. There were also double-digit gaps on questions about Social Security and taxes.
The smallest gap, 54 percent versus 49 percent, was on a question asking which candidate wants to allow drugs to be imported from Canada (Senator John Kerry).
Why the gap? Kate Kenski, a senior analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which conducted the poll, said one reason is the way the campaign has been covered.
"Reporters' obsession with the horse race rather than the substance of politics is likely to be more of interest to men, who pay more attention to sports than women," she said.
That theory seems to jibe with the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, which found that men were more likely, by 56 percent to 49 percent, to say they were paying "a lot" of attention to the presidential campaign. Oddly enough, though, women were more likely, by 72 percent to 62 percent, to describe the campaign as interesting, although that might be because they are tuning out the stuff about Social Security and taxes.
Even odder, perhaps, was the gender gap on a question in the Times poll asking whether Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Twenty-nine percent of men said he was, versus 47 percent of women, putting them 18 points ahead - or maybe behind.
<snip> |
