October 8th, 2008

Survey shows unmarried women prefer Obama

By Naomi Zeveloff

Read the original article by The Colorado Independent.

Single women have long been a tough group for political hopefuls. They tend to turn out for Democrats, but that’s assuming they turn out at all. Their married counterparts are more apt to show up at the polls, even though single women have graver economic concerns.

But that may be changing, according to a study (pdf) commissioned by Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based organization devoted to shoring up the female vote.

The group surveyed 1,045 women in 14 battleground states, including Colorado, and found that single women prefer Barack Obama 62 percent to 33 percent. Married women, on the other hand, slightly prefer John McCain at 48 percent to 47 percent. The study also found that, contrary to popular opinion, single women are “just as engaged and interested as married women,” according to the press release.

Women’s Voices. Women Vote is also the organization that commissioned last week’s female voter focus group during the vice presidential debate. The Colorado Independent liveblogged the event; the single women in the group appeared to go for Joe Biden after watching the debate, though many admitted to identifying with Sarah Palin because she’s a woman.

WVWV News
11 Sep 09 | 14:03

By Liz Weiss

New data released today by the Census Bureau shows a statistically significant increase in the national poverty rate in 2008. Most adults (18 and over) in poverty are women; 59 percent of adults in poverty are women; and 13 percent of all adult women are in poverty. Three-quarters of these women are women on their own—widowed, divorced, separated, or never married—despite being less than half (47 percent) of the population of adult women. These unmarried women have appreciably higher poverty rates than married women—20.8 percent versus 6.2 percent. Yet unmarried women live in a variety of situations—they may be living with partners, they may be mothers, they may be elderly—and each group has unique circumstances and needs. Indeed, poverty rates vary greatly for women by family status, age, and race.

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03 Aug 09 | 16:05

Policymakers must ensure economic security for pregnant women and new mothers, write Melissa Alpert and Alexandra Cawthorne in the first of a new series from Center for American Progress.

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01 Jun 09 | 16:16

Page Gardner of Women’s Voices. Women’s Vote says those voters historically shut out of power are an essential voice in progressive economic policy because it affects their lives the most.

They care about good jobs; they need health care; they want this country to take care of its children through education.

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