Does Gender Matter? Exploring the Partisan Gender Gap

Kaylee E. Jacobson
Dr. John Quinn, Faculty Mentor

The gender gap thesis in American electoral behavior literature suggests there is a widening difference in voting by gender.  This was first noticed with the Clinton-Dole campaign and became a finding in subsequent elections.  At the start of the 2016 election, many felt there would be a wider gender gap between candidates Trump and Clinton.  Many women voted for Clinton, yet 52% of white women voted for Trump (CNN 2016). This raises the question of how gender relates to Trump’s victory. I researched the gender gap in the 2016 presidential election, hypothesizing that after controlling for education, marital status, religion, income, age, and race, gender will not be a significant determinant of voting for Trump. Using the American National Election Survey database, a binary logistic regression found gender to be insignificant demonstrating gender alone cannot be used to explain the 2016 outcome.  These implications affect future political campaigning and representation.

Keywords: partisan gender gap, 2016 presidential election, gender, vote choice for Trump

Topic(s):Political Science

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA