FAST FACTS:

✔ 61 percent of the eligible female

population voted in the 2000 presidential election compared to only

58 percent of the eligible male

population voted. This is a difference of about 8,000,000 votes. 

By Darlisa Crawford 

Washington File Staff Writer

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 61 percent of eligible women voters cast a

ballot in the 2000 presidential election. That is higher than the 58 percent of men who

voted. In 2000 women voters surpassed men voters in U.S. presidential elections for the

first time.

The “gender gap”

In the 1960s American women were more likely to identify with the Republican

Party than the Democratic Party. Richard Nixon narrowly carried the women’s vote

in 1960 after the first televised debate against Kennedy. Political analyst Rachel

Alexander concluded that for the first time voters evaluated a presidential candidate’s performance on television, which influenced how voters cast their ballots. By

the 1980 election between Reagan and Carter, this partiality toward the Republican

Party had changed. Carter won the women’s vote.

The Gallup Organization, a major independent polling firm, concludes that in

every presidential election since 1980 a gender gap has existed. Women have more

often supported Democratic candidates while men have more often supported

Republican candidates. In presidential elections the gap has ranged from 4 percent

to 11 percent. In 1992 women voters supported Clinton in larger numbers than men

by 4 percent. In the 2000 election, Al Gore won the women's vote by 11 percent.

Recent Gallup polls report that Republican incumbent President George W.

Bush has received higher job approval ratings from men than from women in all but

three polls conducted since he took office more than three years ago. In 2004, men

have given Bush a job approval rating that is seven points higher than women have

given him. Ballot tests this year also show that Bush receives greater support in his

bid for re-election among men than among women, according to the Gallup

Organization. 

“Security moms”

On the other hand, women support the war on terrorism and military spending

at the same level as men, according to recent polls. Some political analysts attribute

the narrowed gender gap to the September 11 terrorist attacks. They suggest that

women who have been reticent to support the use of military force now view it as

essential for the protection of their families and communities. Women’s support for

higher defense budgets increased to 47 percent in October 2001 from 24 percent earlier in

the year. The swing voters referred to as “soccer moms” of 2000 may be replaced with

Election

FOCUS

April 14, 2004 U.S. Department of State ISSUE 1 • NO 8

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Inside This Issue: Women Voters in the 2004 Election

• Overview: Women Voters 

in the 2004 Election . . . . page 1

• Campaign Highlight: 

Interview with 

Kay J. Maxwell . . . . . . . . page 3

• The History of the Women’s

Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5

-- US Census Bureau, Voting and

Registration in the Election of 2000, 

February 2002
“security moms” in 2004.

According to the Pew Research Center

for the People and the Press, women’s support for military spending remains at levels

much higher now. “There is no gender gap

on this point, because people are united

behind the president,” says Linda Divall, a

Republican pollster. 

The Single Vote

An important disparity exists between

married women voters and unmarried

women voters. Women of voting age who

have never been married, divorced or widowed comprise 42 percent of all registered

women voters. In the 2000 presidential

election, unmarried women voters represented the same percentage of the

electorate as Jewish, African American,

and Latino voters combined. For this

group, the highest priority issues are

health care, employment, education, job

security, and retirement benefits. 

Over 21 million unmarried women

voters never cast a ballot on election

day, according to data from Women’s

Voices. Women Vote, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing women’s

voter registration.

“We have to help these women understand they can absolutely determine the

outcome of the election,” says Christina

Desser, co-founder of the organization.

In the 2002 mid-term elections, 56

percent of married women voted for

Republican Party candidates, compared to

39 percent of unmarried women. Harvard

University assistant professor of public

policy Anna Greenberg associates “moral

traditionalism” that appeals to married

women with the Republican Party.

Campaigning for the Women’s

Vote 

Women’s concerns will be important

topics of debate on the campaign trail this

election season. The Republican National

Committee has launched a program called

Winning Women, designed to recruit and

train female Republican candidates for

public office and to reach out to female

voters. The Democratic National

Committee has created the DNC Women’s

Vote Center that educates and mobilizes

women voters about electing Democratic

candidates for public office.

Both Massachusetts Senator John

Kerry and President Bush have emphasized issues that resonate with women

— job creation, health care and education — in recent campaign speeches.

First Lady Laura Bush features prominently in her husband’s re-election

advertisements. Kerry’s daughters,

Alexandra and Vanessa, promote their

father’s concerns with jobs and the

environment on the campaign trail. 

“The women’s vote will decide the

next election, as it has since 1980,” stated

political psychologist Dr. Martha Burke.

“Candidates have an opportunity to

showcase their views on the issues

women care most about — violence,

the pay gap, education, and economic

security. Those who address women’s

concerns directly are likely to strike a

chord.” ■

ELECTION FOCUS 2004

2 ELECTION FOCUS 2004

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to present its election coverage newsletter, Election Focus 2004. The 

newsletter will provide non-partisan coverage of the U.S. election process, featuring articles, interviews, public opinion

polls, and other information on the presidential primaries, debates, conventions and campaign activities of the major 

presidential candidates.

Election Focus 2004 is produced by the Democracy and Human Rights team in the Bureau of International Information

Programs.

— BUREAU OF —

INTERNATIONAL 

INFORMATION

PROGRAMS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

(continued from page 1)

“Candidates have an

opportunity to showcase

their views on the issues

women care most about —

violence, the pay gap, 

education, and economic

security. Those who address

women’s concerns directly

are likely to strike a chord.”

--Dr. Martha Burke
Women will play a significant role

in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,

according to political analysts. In a

recent interview, Kay J. Maxwell, who

is the 16th president of the League of

Women Voters of the United States

and chair of the League of Women

Voters Education Fund, spoke with

Washington File staff writer Darlisa

Crawford about the participation of

American women voters in this election season. 

Following is a transcript of the

interview:

Q: How critical is the

women’s vote in the 2004

election?

Maxwell: Well certainly the women’s

vote can be quite critical because as

you probably know women register and

then vote in larger numbers than men.

So for example, if every woman who’s

eligible to register did register and if

every female who was registered to

vote went out and voted, they could

have a significant impact.

Q: What are the most important issues for women?

Maxwell: There are a number of

organizations that have done research

on this. I think just as with men there

is no single set of issues on which all

women agree. The League of Women

Voters focuses on issues that are of

importance to all citizens, not just

some that many call women’s issues.

However, some of the research has

shown that, for example, the economy

and jobs are of considerable importance to women today as more women

are working outside the home. It’s

been determined, for example, that the

subset group of unmarried women has

a particular interest in jobs and the

economy.

Q: How does your 

organization mobilize

women to vote?

Maxwell: We don’t specifically focus

on mobilizing women as I said. Our

mission is to mobilize all citizens to

vote, male and female. Our basic mission is to encourage everyone, every

citizen, to become engaged in his or

her community and in this country. So

we encourage everyone to vote, but

there are lots of different ways we do

that. Mostly, it happens in our local

communities. We do coalition work

with other partners. We’re doing a

couple of interesting different ones

this year. For example we are in a

coalition, called Smackdown Your

Vote that is led by World Wrestling

Entertainment. It is focused particularly on young people; trying to find

young people, get them registered and

get them out to vote. So as I say, we

look at all kinds of ways to do it, but

this year we’re placing a particular

emphasis on young people.

Q: Are there special 

voter education programs

and voter registration 

drives for women this 

election season?

Maxwell: Our local leagues across

the country certainly all are engaged

in their communities in doing voter

registration drives. With the Internet

you can go to the League of Women

Voters’ website, http://www.lwv.org. If

you are not registered to vote, you can

download a registration form. So it has

become much easier to register. The

League of Women Voters was instrumental in passing the Motor Voter law

(The law requires states to provide

uniform registration services through

drivers’ license agencies, through public assistance and disability agencies

and through mail-in registration.) a

few years ago. Our goal is to make it

as easy as possible for citizens to register and then to vote.

Q: What are some of the 

differences in the way men

and women vote? Will those

differences hold true in 2004?

Maxwell: I think that most of the

research shows that a lot of the issues

are similar. But women in particular

may be perhaps focused a little bit

more on health care, education, their

children, jobs and the economy.

Certainly, for everyone this year security issues are important. Civil

liberties issues are important. So there

may be slightly different areas of

emphasis between men and women,

but broadly speaking I think that sense

of which issues are important covers

both genders. In addition, the research

that has been done on young people

ELECTION FOCUS 2004

 

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.

HTTP://WWW.USEMBASSY.DE/USA 

Campaign★★Highlight

An interview with Kay J. Maxwell

3
this year concerning their key issues

indicates that jobs and the economy,

security and the war in Iraq, and the

cost of education are most important

to them. So broadly speaking, there

are similar issues with different

emphases.

Q: Does your organization

have programs aimed at 

particular sectors of the

women’s community?

Maxwell: We don’t have a specific

project focused on that. Although I

know of at least one. It’s called

Women’s Voices. Women Vote. It is an

organization that is specifically

focused this year on trying to encourage unmarried women to register and

then of course to vote. So there are

lots of different organizations that

focus on different segments of the

population to try to encourage them.

We also are working this year especially with the Latino community. For

example in Washington, DC we are

working jointly with Telemundo to

broadcast some public service

announcements in Spanish, encouraging that community to register and

vote.

Q: Can you identify voting

patterns among women in

terms of ethnicity, religion 

or geography? 

Maxwell: Because we are a non-partisan organization we don’t focus or do

basic research on those types of questions. The Center for American

Women and Politics at Rutgers

University has some of that kind of

research. Lifetime television also has

done research on the issues that are

important to women. They found that

issues of childcare, equal pay and violence against women were important. I

think many different groups decide

whether or not to vote based on

whether or not they feel that candidates are speaking to the issues that

matter to them. Whether it is young

people, or women or men, if they find

candidates that are speaking to the

issues that matter to them, they will

get involved and they will register and

vote. If they don’t feel the candidates

of what ever party it is are concerned

and addressing the issues they care

about, then they won’t.

Q: In a recent poll conducted

by Lifetime, 50 percent of

the women said that the 

presidential hopefuls weren’t

talking enough about

women’s issues. Can you

offer any suggestions to the

candidates about engaging

women this election season?

Maxwell: I think that all parties recognize the significance of the women’s

vote and they understand that women

do vote in larger numbers than men. I

believe we are seeing candidates pay a

little bit more attention to that, but I

think it’s important that the candidates

talk about many different issues. We

get so much focus on the horse race, if

you will, that sometimes the issues get

lost. One of things that the League has

operated for several years is another

website called dnet.org. It stands for

democracy network. That’s a site you

can go to and find out where the presidential candidates, as well as

congressional and statewide candidates, stand on the issues. You can go

there and you can ask a question of a

candidate about a particular issue. We

have long felt that broad civic engagement is essential. And people get

engaged, and pay attention to candidates and elections when candidates

speak to the issues. So my advice to

any of the candidates is to speak to the

issues. That is what is going to resonate with American women and men

as well.

READ MORE ABOUT IT:

League of Women Voters

http://www.lwv.org/index.html

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization,

encourages the informed and active

participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding

of major public policy issues, and

influences public policy through education and advocacy. 

Democratic Voices—Women’s Vote

Center:

http://www.democrats.org/wvc/demo

craticvoices/index.html

Founded in 2001 under the leadership

of Democratic National Committee

Chairman Terry McAuliffe, and led by

National Chair Ann Lewis, the

DNC Women’s Vote Center is dedicated to educating, engaging, and

mobilizing women voters across the

nation to help elect more Democrats to

office at all levels of government.

Winning Women:

http://www.winningwomen.org/

“Winning Women: Leadership for the

New Century” is an initiative of the

Republican National Committee to

work with and for women. “Winning

Women” is an attempt to build on the

Republican National Committee’s outreach efforts and win increased

support from the nation’s women. ■

ELECTION FOCUS 2004

4 ELECTION FOCUS 2004

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.
Today every U.S. citizen who is

18 years of age by election day and a

resident of the local precinct at least

30 days is eligible to cast a ballot.

However, women, African Americans,

Native American Indians and members

of certain religious groups were not

allowed to vote during the colonial

period and the early years of the 

country’s history. In 1774 the U.S.

Constitution granted each state 

government the power to determine

who could vote. Individual states

wrote their own suffrage laws. Early

voting qualifications required that an

eligible voter be a white man, twentyone years of age, Protestant, and a

landowner. Many brave citizens who

recognized the importance of the right

to vote led the suffrage movement.

Read the timeline for some specific

events in the history of the women’s

voting movement.

One Hundred Years toward the

Women’s Vote

Compiled by E. Susan Barber

1776 

Abigail Adams writes to her husband,

John, who is attending the Continental

Congress in Philadelphia, asking that

he and the other men — who were at

work on the Declaration of

Independence — “Remember the

Ladies.” The Declaration’s wording

specifies that “all men are created

equal.”

1848 

The first women’s rights convention in

the United States is held in Seneca

Falls, New York. Many participants

sign a “Declaration of Sentiments and

Resolutions” that outlines the main

issues and goals for the emerging

women’s movement. Thereafter,

women's rights meetings are held on a

regular basis. 

1861 to 1865 

The American Civil War disrupts suffrage activity as women, North and

South, divert their energies to "war

work." The War itself, however, serves

as a "training ground," as women gain

important organizational and occupational skills they will later use in

postbellum organizational activity. 

1866

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.

Anthony form the American Equal

Rights Association, an organization for

white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage. 

1868 

The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified,

which extends to all citizens the protections of the Constitution against

unjust state laws. This Amendment

was the first to define “citizens” and

“voters” as “male.” 

1870 

The Fifteenth Amendment enfranchises black men. 

1870 to 1875 

Several women — including Virginia

Louisa Minor, Victoria Woodhull, and

Myra Bradwell —attempt to use the

Fourteenth Amendment in the courts

to secure the vote (Minor and

Woodhull) or the right to practice law

(Bradwell). They all are unsuccessful. 

1872 

Susan B. Anthony is arrested and

brought to trial in Rochester, New

York, for attempting to vote for

Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential

election. At the same time, Sojourner

Truth appears at a polling booth in

Grand Rapids, Michigan, demanding a

ballot; she is turned away. 

1874

The Woman’s Christian Temperance

Union (WCTU) is founded by Annie

Wittenmyer. With Frances Willard at

its head (1876), the WCTU became an

important force in the fight for woman

suffrage. Not surprisingly, one of the

most vehement opponents to women's

enfranchisement was the liquor lobby,

which feared women might use the

franchise to prohibit the sale of liquor. 

1878 

A Woman Suffrage Amendment is

introduced in the United States

Congress. The wording is unchanged

in 1919, when the amendment finally

passes both houses. 

1893 

Colorado becomes the first state to

adopt a state amendment enfranchising women. 

1896 

Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. WellsBarnett, Margaret Murray Washington,

Fanny Jackson Coppin, Frances Ellen

Watkins Harper, Charlotte Forten

Grimké, and former slave Harriet

Tubman meet in Washington, D.C. to

form the National Association of

Colored Women (NACW). 

1903 

Mary Dreier, Rheta Childe Dorr,

Leonora O’Reilly, and others form the

ELECTION FOCUS 2004

WWW.USEMBASSY.DE/USA 5

TThe opinions expressed in this article are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.

The History of the Women’s Vote 
Women’s Trade Union League of New

York, an organization of middle-and

working-class women dedicated to

unionization for working women and

to women’s suffrage. This group later

became a nucleus of the International

Ladies' Garment Workers’ Union

(ILGWU). 

1911 

The National Association Opposed to

Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) is organized. Led by Mrs. Arthur Dodge, its

members included wealthy, influential

women and some Catholic clergymen

— including Cardinal Gibbons who,

in 1916, sent an address to NAOWS’s

convention in Washington, D.C. In

addition to the distillers and brewers,

who worked largely behind the scenes,

the “antis” also drew support from

urban political machines, Southern

congressmen, and corporate capitalists

— like railroad magnates and meatpackers — who supported the “antis”

by contributing to their “war chests.” 

1912 

Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive

(Bull Moose/Republican) Party

becomes the first national political

party to adopt a woman suffrage

plank. 

1913 

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize

the Congressional Union, later known

as the National Women’s Party (1916).

Borrowing the tactics of the radical,

militant Women’s Social and Political

Union (WSPU) in England, members

of the Woman’s Party participate in

hunger strikes, picket the White

House, and engage in other forms of

civil disobedience to publicize the suffrage cause. 

1914 

The National Federation of Women's

Clubs — which by this time included

more than two million white women

and women of color throughout the

United States — formally endorses the

suffrage campaign. 

1916 

Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes

the first American woman elected to

represent her state in the U.S. House

of Representatives. 

August 26, 1920 

The Nineteenth Amendment is 

ratified. Its victory accomplished,

NAWSA ceases to exist, but its 

organization becomes the nucleus 

of the League of Women Voters. ■

ELECTION FOCUS 2004

6 ELECTION FOCUS 2004

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.