October 17th, 2008

Single White Females

By Eileen Smith

Read the original article at Texas Monthly.

Looks like Obama has finally tapped into the virtual mother lode of voting blocs: unmarried women. Single women make up one-quarter of the voting age population, which is surprising since I assumed that they were all out trying to find husbands and too busy to vote. (Tick tick, ladies.)

The majority of unmarried women support Obama, making up an integral part of his overall base. According to a recent Democracy Corps survey of voters under 30, Obama held a 60 to 30 percent lead among white unmarried young women, but support was split among married women.

In 2004, unmarried women supported John Kerry with a 23-point margin; unmarried women support Obama by 27 points. So what accounts for the four-point increase?

Simple. Obama’s hotter.

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