TO WHAT EXTENT IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER AND VOTING IN THE US?

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TO WHAT EXTENT IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER AND VOTING?

There are many issues to consider when analysing voting behaviour. One of these issues is gender. However, even though there is a significant gap it is important not too over-estimate it as many other issues come into force when voting, i.e. race, religion, region and ethnicity.

        Over the past 30 years the gender gap has remained constant; men have tended to vote republican and women have tended to vote for Democrat, an example of this was in the 2000 elections, only 36% of men voted for Gore (Democrats) but 48% of women voted for him. Voting behaviour data has shown that men started to abandon the Democrat party because they wanted more conservative policies on matters like crime, race and welfare, which the Republican party were willing too give.

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        There are many controversial issues surrounding the gender gap including ones that are hypocritical to assumptions made on everyday life. For example; It has been found that on average, American women are more religious than American men, this would lead us to believe they would be more likely to vote for the ‘religious party’ (the Republicans). This is therefore a reversal of what we would expect in voting behaviour. There are reasons for this and they include but are not limited too; only the most committed and devout are influenced by religion when voting, others are influenced by modern matters ...

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