The Gender Divide in Politics Goes in One Direction

Author

Bubba
17 Sep

The discourse about the widening partisan gender gap in politics is leaving out one key fact. (NYT)

Chart: The New York Times

A new Gallup analysis: Young women have grown significantly more liberal, while young men’s ideological leanings haven’t really changed.

  • In 2001, young men and women had similar political views, with women slightly more liberal.

  • By 2024, roughly 40% of women aged 18-29 identified as liberal, up from 28% in the years between 2001 to 2007.

  • Per Gallup, “young men’s views have been slightly more liberal in the Trump/Biden period than they were in the Bush era, but less liberal than during the Obama era.”

Zoom in: Young women's opinions have shifted dramatically on many liberal issues, far outpacing the changes in men’s views.

Chart: The New York Times

New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller:

It’s hard to say definitively what changed for young women in the last eight years, researchers said. But the rise in liberal identification suggests that for a generation of women who were raised being told they could do anything, the triple punch of Hillary Clinton’s loss to Mr. Trump, the #MeToo movement and the overturning of Roe v. Wade forcefully shaped their political views.

These are women who grew up in a period with a focus on cultivating girls’ self-esteem, civic engagement and involvement in previously male arenas, said Melissa Deckman, a political scientist who is chief executive of P.R.R.I., a research firm, and author of “The Politics of Gen Z,” published this month.

Events since 2016 gave a contradictory message, she said: “Sexism isn’t a thing of the past.”

The narrative: Much of the media discussion around the partisan gender gap has framed it as a co-equal phenomenon or suggested young men are being radicalized by toxic forces.

Bubba’s Two Cents

The explanation for young women’s leftward turn is they’re merely reacting to sexist political developments. But this cohort is also becoming significantly more liberal on climate change, the death penalty and other unrelated issues that just so happen to align perfectly with the Democratic Party line.