Wendy Schiller, associate professor of political science and public policy, spoke with members of Women at Brown Sept. 28 about how politicians are courting the women's vote in the 2000 election. The George Street Journal's Kristen Cole recently asked Schiller about the topic.
Strikingly, this election has seen the least amount of targeted campaigning for "the women's vote" than any I can remember. I think that gender issues are in fact becoming overshadowed by economic, family and education issues, which are equally important to men and women. Issues like minimum wage, health insurance, comparable pay, flex-time and public school education are increasingly important to the majority of American families who have two wage earners. Certainly issues like abortion and affirmative action remain on the agenda, but from the campaigns themselves, one can detect a marked shift in emphasis to issues which appeal to both men and women.
One thing both men have done quite blatantly is showcase their marriages and their stable family lives. While I do believe most men and women admire fidelity and trust and loyalty, I think both Gore and Bush recognize that women in particular will be looking for signs that they are trustworthy and treat the women in their lives with respect. Whether or not we can know their private lives, their public conduct has been far superior to that of Bill Clinton.
Who currently has a better following among women voters?
At the moment, Vice President Gore has a modest lead among women voters, which has been steadily growing since the Democratic Convention. One of the factors that might explain this surge among women is the way in which Gore has presented himself as separate and distinct from Bill Clinton the man, but at the same time stayed associated with President Clinton's policies. Typically, polls have shown that a majority of women favor the Democratic Party position on most issues over that of the Republican Party. George Bush has come far in his efforts to associate himself with a new and revised Republican Party on women's issues, but the perception remains that the Democratic presidential candidate is likely to be more aligned with most female voters.
How crucial is the women's vote to this election?
With a race as close as this one, every single vote counts. The key word this year is not gender, it's geography. Whether it's Bush or Gore, the candidate who wins the majority of the industrial Midwest is likely to win the presidency. It is clear that labor unions will be key to most of those states, and insofar as women constitute a good portion of labor unions in many sectors, women will be important. I am not as convinced, however, that they will be more important nationally than any other group of voters.
In local races, such as the Senate race in New York State, women will be more decisive in the outcome, but at the moment it is not clear in which direction their votes will go. Ironically it may be that Gore helps Hillary Clinton with women, rather than the other way around in that women might simply vote straight-ticket Democrat. If it were merely a choice in a vacuum, I am not persuaded that women in New York would vote for Hillary.