She said, 'Mother, there are these TV ads out here and they make you Republicans look like you're taking food out of the mouths of little babies. The congresswoman assured her that the party was not, but found it ominous that she had to defend the Republican Congress to her own Republican daughter. The gender gap, the tendency of women to lean Democratic while men tilt Republican, has become a gender chasm in recent months. And many political analysts believe that it has a lot to do with women's perceptions of the 104th Congress, particularly the fear that the revolution led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to go too far.
Women are stronger environmentalists, more critical of business and less critical of government.
This drives their party preferences and their attitudes toward the congressional agenda. The gender gap has been a recurrent feature of American politics since President Ronald Reagan stirred the hearts of men, but not as many women, in 1980. What makes it so striking at the moment, many pollsters say, is its size and its potential to affect not only the race forthe White House, but also the battle for control of the House. This survey of 1,257 adults was conducted March 31 to April 2 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Republicans counter that the flip side of the gender gap is their superior strength among men, and they note that they have prevailed over their vulnerabilities with women many times in the past.