Interesting New Yorker article re: why white women voted for Romney...

[YoungDemCA]

Why did so many white women vote for Romney despite his shift to the right on women’s issues during the G.O.P. primaries? One way to tackle this question is to ask why so many white men voted for him. Surely, many of the same factors that motivated white male Romney supporters played into the decision-making of white female Romney supporters. After all, in many cases, the members of the two groups are married to each other, and are shaped by the same cultural and economic environment. (To be clear, I am not suggesting that white women vote Republican because their husbands do. Women make up their own minds.)

Without much doubt, attitudes about race—and even outright racism—played a role, although one that is hard to quantify. But it’s far from the only thing. Income is important. On average, white men and women tend to be richer than non-whites, and voting Republican is strongly correlated with income. (In families that made less than a hundred thousand dollars a year, Obama won by eight points. In families that made more than a hundred thousand dollars a year, Romney won by ten points.) Age is another factor. Whites, on average, tend to be older than non-whites, and older people (male and female) tend to vote Republican in greater numbers. Religion is also part of the story. Most white women, like most white men, are churchgoing Christians, a group that is strongly Republican—especially evangelicals, who voted for Romney by almost four to one. Then there is ideology. Just as there are conservative men, there are conservative women.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2012/11/why-white-women-voted-for-romney.html

Any additional thoughts or comments?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. DU Rec.

[VanillaRhapsody]

2. because just as many White women are racist too..

Live in the rural South and see it for yourself. I knoe women who support R v Wade but are more racist than they are feminist. Also, alot of women are anti- womens rights....its very simple.

[Faux pas]

3. Just one word

Brainwashed.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. This old, white, single, non-believer, pro-choice, non-rich female voted for Obama - twice.

I don't know what to think about those other white women out there.

[VanillaRhapsody]

5. stupid is as stupid does

[YoungDemCA]

6. To be fair, Obama didn't lose by overwhelming margins among white women....

Both times, the Republican candidate didn't break 60% among this demographic (though in 2012, Romney did do just that among white men).

And of course, being married to a white man, being highly religious (especially evangelical Protestant or Mormon), being economically well-off...all increase the chances of white women being Republican by a considerable amount. But even then, it's not an absolute rule-there are always plenty of exceptions that vote Democratic!

By contrast, Obama won 97 percent of the votes of black women in 2012. Now THAT's closer to an absolute rule!

[redqueen]

7. Pathetic.

He sure went to a lot of trouble to try to take the focus off those poor, pitiful white male republican voters.

The key point is that voting against Obama wasn’t just a white-guy thing. A whole range of racial, cultural, and economic factors contribute to the dislike of the President among various chunks of the white population

[YoungDemCA]

8. I have mixed feelings about the article, actually

On the one hand, I agree with you that the bigger story is that white men skew Republican to a disturbingly high extent.

On the other hand...a lot of white women vote Republican too, despite the fact that women AS A GROUP are very Democratic, so in that sense, white women are a bit of an outlier.

I really think the marriage factor is huge here-probably bigger than other factors. Single white women are way more Democratic-leaning than married white women. And the latter group is overwhelming married to...white men. Hmmm....

[redqueen]

10. Oh yeah, the topic *could* be an interesting one.

But this dude can go fuck himself with his 'stop picking on white dudes!' bullshit.

That's his whole 'point' and it's fucking pathetic.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. I'm probably going to create a kerfuffle

So basically he wants us to excuse them for being bigots?

Yeah - lets you and me get right on that. Uh - no.

[PeaceNikki]

9. .

[redqueen]

11. ...

?1345565795

[JustAnotherGen]

12. That about sums it up