President Barack Obama’s advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among female voters is similar to his pre-election margins four years ago, though Obama’s edge among all voters is smaller than at a similar point in 2008. …
Female voters have been more supportive of Democrats for decades, while men vote more Republican. The so-called gender gap owes partly to women being more supportive of federal government programs than men.
Peter A. Brown, assistant director of Hamden, Connecticut- based Quinnipiac’s polling institute, said it was “very difficult to win an election when you are getting shellacked among women, the group that makes up about half the electorate.” [cont.]
Jonathan D. Salant & Greg Giroux, Bloomberg