Gender Gap
Published July 20, 2013
By Thomas Mills, NC Politics blog, July 19, 2013.
Earlier this week, Public Policy Polling released a poll that showed some ugly numbers for Republicans. It showed Pat McCrory’s favorability falling sharply and the approval of the General Assembly in the tank. And while people aren’t thrilled with either party in the legislature, they like Republicans less.
The most startling numbers, and those most worrisome for Republicans, are in the crosstabs. There is a huge gender gap in the state and women have big problems the GOP. The numbers also show that men and women have substantially different views of even more esoteric matters like how the state is viewed nationally.
For the Republican-led government, support from women is in the basement. Only 25% of women approve of the way the GOP is governing the state, while 63% disapprove. For men, the approval rate is split 46%-47%.
McCrory fares better (32% approve, 54% disapprove) with women than the Republicans in the legislature (28%-60%), but his numbers are still upside down by 22 points. Men, on the other hand, view McCrory and the GOP legislators the same, giving them both an approval rating of 49%-42%. The 60% disapproval rate shows women’s intensity around the issues is greater than the men’s more subdued reaction.
The most interesting numbers to me, though, are the perception issues. A majority of women, by a 51% to 27% margin, think the General Assembly is causing the state national embarrassment. Men? Not so much. Forty-seven percent say it’s not, while 40% say it is.
And woman are with the protesters. By a whopping 23% (53%-30%) women see the protesters favorably while men have a different view, with half seeing them unfavorably. And women prefer the protesters over the legislators by a 20 point margin (52%-32%) while men prefer legislators by 10 points (51%-41%).
The gender gap in North Carolina is alive and well and favoring Democrats. Women make up almost 10% more of the electorate than men, so if Republicans want to stay in power, they need to figure out how to fix that. They’ve certainly hurt themselves with the abortion debacle and I imagine women are going to be even more discouraged when the cuts to education sink in.
If Thom Tillis is the GOP nominee for Senate, this gap could doom his chances. He can’t run away from his position as Speaker and the intensity with which women oppose the legislature must be unsettling for him. He’s got a year to figure it out, but if he can’t, his coalition is down to white men and that’s no coalition at all.
July 20, 2013 at 8:27 pm
dj anderson says:
Does saying this make someone feel good about today?
Quoting polling results over a year from elections is to boost the spirits of the losers and give them hope, I suppose, but it's water off the back of the Republicans who aren't ducking their heads as they get all they can do, done as fast as possible to put it in the past.
Dart throwing at the Gov. & GA isn't solving the Democratic Party problems, which does matter here and now. It's wasted spin, an empty wind that won't fill the sails, just more hot air, and not even sore grapes.
The Republicans passed a change in tax law. Who is surprised that they wanted to? Did anyone think they were going to use the Democratic Party's tax structure? If Republicans liked that, they would not have had to spend money to run for office, and so it goes with every issue.
So, now, there is the hot wind spewing all holier than thou, like we were doing so great and pointing at others saying they ruined our utopia. I can't stand it. Take a look at ourselves! We did this to ourselves.
Democrats must face reality of being a party in the minority and DO something. Do we have a tax reform plan to point at? We can fault find with the best of them and sneer & demean better than a teasing 4th grader. Ridicule is fine for late night comics, but we now have to say how we would do it better, and better than last time. Are we going to offer the 'good ole days' as a slogan? We coulda, shoulda done better, and woulda had we not forgotten our values & ideals.
Democrats can't tell a poor working man that he is a loser when he is getting a "smaller" tax cut, not when he is actually getting an income tax cut. He knows deep down he would not have gotten one under Democrats, but a raise! Do we want to play class envy? Unless they've given up, they think they're going to win the Democratic lottery or something.
A Democratic leader is going to have to emerge that can sign off on what the problems of too little money is going to be a year from now, and three years from now before the elections.
That new leader must put their reputation on their predictions being accurate, and say them over and over in every corner of the state. The new leader can't point at unhealthy behavior of the GA (tax cuts leading to low revenues), or wait for symptoms to appear (cutting services), but must diagnose the impending problems (spending cuts), and prescribe now the preventative cure and be waiting with the remedy on the shelf come elections time.
There's a majority out here who will vote Democratic if they have a leader to believe in and follow. Is it really Rev. Barber who is the face of the Democratic Party today? Is it? Rev. Barber serves his position well. Rev. Barber can get the cameras in front of him and a crowd around him, but that's the loyal core that can be taken for granted. Can he get the independent minded vote? Forget getting the Republican core. Who has the "Henry Fonda" stature to stand up and speak out logically, methodically what our principles, ideals and values are, and how we are going to implement them for the good of all?
Democrats have plenty of shouting out finger pointers crying about the sky falling and ruining our past perfection, but where is the one, humble, soul searching person of integrity who will take ownership of our past wrongs; who can quietly, calmly possess a peaceful understanding of our condition; who promises us the pathway to solutions; and who dares offer to take our hand and lead us by example?
Where is our leader? What is our plan? It can't be to be anti-republican, which is all we are now as witnessed by the venom spewed daily.
