Showing the tabular data in graphical form; ModalPeak, Wikipedia, November 7, 2018
While 59 percent of women voted for Democratic candidates, 51 percent of men voted for Republicans. This translated into an overall gender gap of 11.5 percent among those who voted for the House, with a gender gap in every group which can be counted. Even among white evangelicals, the most loyal of Republicans, men were 6 percent more likely than women to vote for the Republican House candidate. Among black voters, the most loyal of Democrats, women were 4 percent more likely to vote for the Democrat than were men.
Several issues were prominent which attracted women voters. Exit polls said that the chief issue in 2018 was healthcare. Family separation of would-be immigrants was another. Foreign policy and economic issues were further down the ladder. Gun control was still further down the list of most important issues, but in the past, it wasn’t on the list at all.
Unlike 2016, the predictions of pundits and prognosticators turned out to be pretty accurate. They predicted a blue wave but not a blue tsunami, with the Dems taking the House but not the Senate. That is what happened.
Although many claimed that women’s protest of Brett Kavanaugh becoming a Supreme Court justice stimulated Republicans to vote, more of those answering the exit polls opposed his confirmation than supported it (47% to 43%). When asked about sexual harassment, 46 percent said it was a "very serious problem" and 72 percent of those voted for the Democrat.
When the 116th Congress is sworn on January 3, 2019, there will be more women than ever before. Over 80 percent of them will be Democrats.
©2018 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com
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