Decreasing Marriage Gap Key To Future GOP Success
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 11:46AM (FLP Opinion) - The Democrat Party long ago became a caucus of disparate groups melding to support liberal candidates and causes. What is not always understood is that blacks, hispanics and gays do not drive this progressive bus - single women do. In fact, single women make up a voting block that is larger than the aforementioned groups combined.
Stan Greenberg, a well-known Democrat pollster, recently looked at the marriage gap - that is, the margin of married voters to unmarried ones who favor a given candidate, party, or position - and found it to be a powerful predictor of voting behavior. In fact, the marriage gap is far larger than the much-discussed gender gap. During the 2006 congressional elections, the marriage gap was a huge 32 points, compared with a gender gap of just 9 points. Among women voters, the marriage gap was even larger, 36 points. And the marriage gap seems to cut across traditional voting blocs. In 2006 there was a 14-point marriage gap among black voters.
Based on this information, single women vote Democrat roughly 68% of the time - a landslide by any measure - and similar to that which married women vote Republican. And while their support doesn't reach the 90%+ level that Democrats receive from blacks or the 70%+ they receive from Hispanics, it is very significant due to the size of the voting block.
What seems to be consistent about the typical Democrat voter (elites and academics aside) is that they tend to be much less politically astute than their Republican counterparts, but much more vocal about where they stand. In other words, the teenage know-it-all that actually knows nothing.
I have long believed that a well educated voter is the enemy of any Democrat candidate, and single women are simply not as engaged in the political process as their married counterparts. If Republicans are to achieve the massive gains they will need to take back the House and Senate in 2010, they need to make gains with this demographic group - without sacrificing on their conservative principals.
Even a small decrease in the marriage gap could pay big dividends for the GOP.
Reader Comments (10)
Single women are the bane of the conservatives existence. I have no confidence that we can bring them over in any significant numbers. However, very insightful post - wasn't aware of most the stuff you discussed.
Very interesting. If things get bad enough, they'll come around. But it will have to get really bad - they are as liberal as any group.
Excellent piece Pundit. Never realized they were that powerful - that is very scary.
Great points. You are quickly becoming one of my favorite conservative writers. Keep it coming!
Valid argument. They will be tough to turn. The most hardened demographic group in the Democrat caucus. These are the people the used to call feminists.
If we could each marry 3 or 4 women we could solve this problem. The Mormons are onto something......
You hit on an excellent point: A well educated voter is the enemy of the Democrat party. That is precisely why the Democrats control the education system and ensure that there are very few well educated voters. Most of the reasonable independent thinkers I know went to parochial school rather than public school. But the public education system churns out magnitudes more indoctrinated Democrat voters than the parochial system can produce thinkers. It makes me worry that we're on course to achieve the "Idiocracy" much sooner than the movie predicted.
Tom,
On top of that, consider what happens when you legalize the 12 - 20 million illegal immigrants (probably closer to 20 - 30 million) who are poorly educated and speak english, if at all, as a second language. On top of that, much of their existing base is comprised of poorly educated dunces that feel wrongly beholden to the Democrats and have for decades.
They've been baking this strategy out since the 60's and now their work is starting to bear real fruit. Just another example of why most elected Democrats are traitors to this country.
Tom,
Just imagine what happens when you legalize the 12 - 20 million illegal immigrants (probably closer to 20 - 30 million) who are poorly educated and speak english, if at all, as a second language. In addition to this, much of the existing Democrat base is comprised of ill-educated dunces who are wrongly beholden to these scoundrels.
Democrats have been working on this "dumb-down" strategy since the 60's and it is starting to really bear fruit. Just another reason why most elected Democrats are traitors.
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