What do women want in 2020?
We’ll find out Feb. 11
Women turn out to vote at a higher rate than men, especially in the 2016 New Hampshire presidential primary. So what, in 2020, do women want?
Data from the new Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald-NBC10 poll suggests that women want two things: less conflict and more information on the Democratic candidates.
The poll shows an impressive 57% of the women surveyed said they plan to vote in the Feb. 11 first-in-the-nation Democratic primary, compared to 47% of men.
As to who those women may vote for, women’s favorability ratings for the top candidates — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren — are virtually identical to men. However, when asked about candidates such as Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg,
Andrew Yang and Amy Klobuchar, there was a 3 point to 10 point increase in women who answered “heard of but have no opinion” over men, suggesting that many women are still evaluating all of the candidates.
The perception that women are still making up their mind shows up in other numbers as well. When asked who they think will win the Democratic primary, 25% of women were undecided, and 26% of women said Biden would likely win versus 33% of men saying the same. Added to this, women also said they were more likely to watch last night’s debate than men.
Where women’s views really differ from men are when asked about the recent events involving Iran and the possibility of escalation of tensions in the Middle East. When asked whether they supported or opposed the drone strike on a top Iranian general, men leaned slightly toward opposing the strike (47% oppose to 43% support). Women, however, overwhelmingly opposed the strike, with 60% in opposition compared to only 33% in support.
Women were also distinctly against any escalation of the conflict with 76% opposing compared to 18% in support of escalation. While men and women were both opposed to escalation, there is almost a 10 point difference in opposition to escalation compared to men (67% of men oppose escalation).
These numbers likely contribute to the differences in Trump’s job approval ratings, with 63% of women generally disapproving of the job Trump is doing as president while 36% of women approve of his job performance. This is in contrast to the closer split for men, with 46% approving of the president’s job performance and 46% disapproving.
And because women are more likely to turn out to vote, it will be interesting to see their response to what they get.