Women voters and their political preferences in 2016

Women Voters in the 2016 Elections

As regards the 2016 presidential election and women's role in this critical campaign, it should be understood that according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau (2014), there are 162 million females and 157 million males. And during the last national election 43% of female citizens over 18 voted while 40.8% of males over 18 voted. It is not rocket science to discover that women vote more consistently than men do. When it comes to women voters, the biggest story this whole presidential election cycle involves Hillary Clinton, but another big election story hitting the airwaves and on the front pages of newspapers is the high percentage of women who do not like the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump. This paper will highlight the advantages and disadvantages for women voters, how polls show women's preferences and the future of women voters. Clearly women are a very big part of the political process, and women are having an enormous impact on the 2016 election.

Hillary Clinton -- The Big Story for Women in 2016

Meantime, the most recent Monmouth poll shows Clinton leading Senator Bernie Sanders 52-39 in Pennsylvania; the Quinnipiac Poll shows Clinton over Sanders 51-42 in Connecticut; and the Gravis Poll has Clinton over Sanders 45-38 in California. Those states are the next stop in this 2016 presidential primary race, and after Clinton defeated Sanders in New York State Tuesday night April 19 (57.9% to 42.1%) the exit polls showed that while Sanders won "comfortably with under-40s and white men, Clinton was ahead with older voters, women, and black and Latino supporters" (Roberts, et al., 2016).

Pundits and other observers predict that women and Latinos are very likely to be the deciding factors in this year's presidential race, and regarding women, according to an article in the Washington Post, women have shown in the recent past that they exercise their right of citizenship (voting) more than men do. First, women deal with government " ... in their day-to-day lives more than men do"; and women are more dependent on "safety-net services such as food stamps and childcare subsidies than men are" (Rampell, 2014).

For women that are not in the low income category, they still are "more likely than men to be primary caregivers," and that means women as a rule spend more time with "teachers, eldercare workers, health-care providers and other folks who are employed, reimbursed or tightly regulated by the government" (Rampell, p. 1).

The Disadvantages for Women in 2016

Voter suppression legislation and rules in the United States has become a big anti-democratic issue over the last few election cycles. Voter suppression is done by states with Republican governors and Republican-controlled houses of legislature. The laws passed in 34 states are designed especially for districts " ... where likely Democratic voters are concentrated" (NOW.org). The laws: a) require voters to show a government-issued identification card (in some cases, a passport, a military I.D. or a driver's license, which many poor minority women have found difficult to get); b) limit early voting days (often on weekends), which low-income working class women had found convenient because weekdays are work days (NOW.org).

"Voter I.D. laws have a disproportionately negative effect on women," according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Reportedly one-third of all women have citizenship documents that "... do not identically match their current names primarily because of name changes at marriage" (NOW.org). And about 90% of women who get married adopt their husband's last name, which is different of course from the name on a woman's driver's license and their birth certificate. In many of the 34 states that have voter suppression laws nearly 30% of women " ... could be turned away from the polls unless they have precisely the right documents" (NOW.org).

Moreover, Republicans have a "vested interest in suppressing the women's vote," in particular the single woman's vote. For example, President Obama won with very high margins of votes from unmarried women, so if those Republican states can suppress the votes of single women, they may be able to win elections they otherwise would lose (NOW.org).

In conclusion, women are playing an enormous role in the 2016 election cycle; whether Hillary Clinton reaches her goal of the White House or not, she has figured large in this campaign, and so have the 70% of American women that find Trump's bombast and bullying repugnant to them and to the democratic process.