The Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund informs and mobilizes unmarried women to participate in our government and make their voices heard in our democracy. Unmarried women - single, separated, divorced or widowed - make up 26 percent of all voting age Americans. They are 53 million strong, yet they participate and vote less often than their married sisters.
The Action Fund is dedicated to encouraging unmarried women to bring their voices to our nation's political conversation and to advocate for policies important to them. The Action Fund seeks to empower women on their own with the facts they need to make their own informed choices about ballot measures, candidates and issues.
The Action Fund is a leader in advocating for issues important to unmarried women. Through research driven and results affirmed programs, the Action Fund effectively increases the presence of women on their own at the polls and in our democracy.
Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund is a non partisan tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Survey: Women, youth drift away from Obama
A critical bloc of Democratic-aligned voters has lurched away from President Barack Obama’s campaign and won’t come back until Democrats develop a new “narrative,” warns a new survey by a Democratic polling firm.
The bloc of “unmarried women, people of color, and younger voters — comprises a rapidly growing majority of the eligible voting population in this country … [but they] are not hearing an economic narrative that speaks to their problems and concerns or convinces them that their leaders have the ability to solve those problems,” says the Aug. 24 report titled “Creating a New Economic Narrative; Engaging the Rising American Electorate for 2012.”
Engaging the Rising American Electorate for 2012
As the end of Congress’s summer recess nears and Washington prepares to reengage on the debate over the economy, new research[1] makes clear how essential it is for progressives to engage the voters who put them in power in 2006 and 2008 using an economic narrative that connects with their current lives and motivates them.
The Rising American Electorate—unmarried women, people of color, and younger voters— comprises a rapidly growing majority of the eligible voting population in this country. These voters formed a strong base for progressive victories and drove change in 2006 and 2008; however, among some, their support for Democrats dropped in 2010. Regaining that support and motivating these voters to turn out is crucial for President Obama’s reelection and congressional victories in 2012 among those who support an agenda for economic recovery for the middle class.
This is a real challenge. Dissatisfaction with Washington’s inability to make any progress on economic issues; coupled with the fact that these voters are disproportionately feeling the brunt of the economic downturn, creates uncertainty about those currently in office and leaves RAE voters with little motivation to engage in political issues. Key groups including unmarried women and young voters continue to indicate strong support for Obama and the Democrats heading into next year, but a stronger economic rationale is needed to ensure they turn out and support traditional allies who support their public policy agenda.
Voter's Downgrade Washignton
A new survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for Democracy Corps reveals voters’ growing anger with Washington. This survey fielded at a unique time—just as Standard and Poor’s announced its credit rating downgrade. As a result, these results capture the immediate reactions of American voters—and their initial backlash against Congressional Republicans in particular and Washington in general.
The picture is bleak. Three-quarters of voters now believe the country is on the wrong track, up 14 points since June; a mere 16 percent say we are on the right track, the lowest in our tracking since the 2008 financial crisis. This is clearly driven by frustration with, and antipathy toward, the way things work (or don’t) in Washington. The debt ceiling debate was a kind of mutually assured destruction for the two parties; both parties in Congress, and leaders from each side, have suffered the consequences. The two parties get the largest downgrade—though the Republicans in the House saw the biggest rise in disapproval and their Speaker, the largest rise in nega- tive sentiment.
Walk In Our Shoes, Don't Tread on Our Rights
WVWVAF is offering an electronic toolkit for activists. The kit offers downloadable files of banner ads, flyers, signs and posters for everyone who is standing up for the rights of workers to have a voice.
The Unkindest Cut: Budget Debate Is Opportunity for Progressives
The budget debate could provide progressives with an opportunity to win back the support of a constituency key to regaining power in 2012 – the unmarried women, people of color and youth who make up the Rising American Electorate (RAE) – according to a just-released national survey. Click here to download the entire report: "The Unkindest Cut."
The Marriage Gap
Page Gardner examines the importance of understanding the role unmarried women play in the electorate in the February, 3, 2011 edition of the Politico.
The results are in, but the 2010 elections remain a mystery. That’s because a core, and ever expanding, constituency was ignored by politicians and pollsters. Until we understand what happened with unmarried women voters, we cannot know the deeper dynamics that shaped this election — or anticipate their consequences for 2012.
Unmarried women are a key part of the electorate, and their numbers are growing rapidly as the face of the American family changes. The number of unmarried Americans as a whole has risen dramatically, according to a recent Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends report. In 1960, close to three-quarters (72 percent) of adult Americans were married; today, about half (52 percent) are. One out of every two American women today is single, separated, divorced or widowed. It’s now 48.6 percent, up from just 30 percent in 1960.
Unmarried Women React to State of the Union Speech
January 26, 2011
President Takes Important First Step Towards Re-Engaging Critical Block of Voters
Democrats will struggle to reclaim the country without reclaiming a core and growing constituency – unmarried women. Last night, President Obama took a major step toward recapturing these voters. He owes this success largely to the major theme of the speech, the economy.
Find out more about how the president has taken steps fo reengage this critical bloc of voters >>
Another Look at Healthcare
January 24, 2011
2010 Post Election Research
Click here for a copy of WVWV Action Fund's 2010 post-election research
Click here for a copy of WVWV Action Fund's 2010 post-election research memorandum
Check Out WVWVAF Outreach In Colorado
Click here to see the latest outreach efforts in Colorado by Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund.
Check Out WVWVAF Outreach in Maine
Click here to see the latest outreach efforts in Maine by Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund.
How To Engage And Motivate Voters In the Rising American Electorate
Click here to download a copy of WVWVAF's latest guide to engaging and motivating voters in the Rising American Electorate.
How to Survive in 2010
The latest poll in a year-long joint project of Democracy Corps and WVWVAF tracking the attitudes and opinions of unmarried women and the rest of the Rising American Electorate -- Latino, African American and young voters.
Click here to download the full presentation [PDF]
Drop Off Voters One Key to 2010
Drop-Off voters are voters who do not vote in the midterm election after having voted in the previous Presidential election. WVWV is at the forefront of analyzing who is at risk of “dropping off,” who will turn out to vote, and what the electorate will look like in the 2010 midterm elections.
In this survey, our first to analyze potential drop-off voters, participants were more likely to believe their state is off on the wrong track than the country and evidence emerges suggesting local issues can play as important a role in turn out as national issues. Most volunteered reasons for not voting reflect a candid self-assessment of competence; lack of information seems to inhibit voting.
Sometimes the means may matter as much as the message. In GOTV messaging, the second most powerful argument stressed the relative ease of voting with mail in ballots and early voting procedures. “Old school” outreach still has a role to play here. Asked to recall how they were contacted in 2008, drop-off voters are more likely to mention campaign mail, phones and television than social networking sites or e-mail.
Click here to download the full presentation [PDF]
Pay Equity Now
President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay legislation in to law on Thursday, Jan. 29. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, bringing bringing all American women another step closer to pay equality. The Paycheck Fairness Act could come up for a Senate vote soon, so now is the time to do your part - Contact the Senate Now!
The time is now to ensure women receive equal pay for equal work. Read more.
Read more about the Paycheck Fairness Act
Read more about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Support a Jobs and Recovery Plan
All Americans are feeling profound stress of the economic crisis in our country, and unmarried women are especially hard-hit. Women on their own are supporting themselves and often their children on earnings that are only 56 cents to the dollar of what a married man makes. And the new unemployment figures show that unmarried women are as twice as likely to be unemployed compared to married women.
You can do your part to help ensure a jobs and recovery plan are set in place to come to the aid of all Americans. Write a letter to your local paper in support of a plan for Jobs and Economic Recovery!
You can also contact your legislator and tell them to support a Jobs and Economic Recovery plan and to provide resources to prevent states from cutting critical services which our citizens depend upon.
Call 866-544-7573 today!
