WVWV only reported the gap for young women. I was curious what it would be in the general population. Gallup provides data by marital status and by marital status and gender.
Crunching the data, I get the following:
| Status | Obama | McCain | Net Difference | Marriage Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Married | 43% | 50% | -7% | |
| Unmarried | 60% | 33% | 27% | 34% |
| Married Men | 41% | 52% | -11% | |
| Unmarried Men | 57% | 38% | 19% | 30% |
| Married Women | 46% | 48% | -2% | |
| Unmarried Women | 61% | 30% | 31% | 33% |
So, the marriage gap is anywhere from 30 percentage points – for men – to 36 percentage point – for young women. Is Obama taking note? It doesn’t seem so. The gender gap, which is only about 14%, pales in comparison to this gap. But if the Obama campaign would like to change this, they can start reading up on how to reach unmarried women at Women’s Voters or on Bella DePaulo’s blog (she has a new post here that wonders why the press & the blogs seem to be ignoring this huge gap.).
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This is SO important, Rachel. Thanks for posting it.
Good one! but I think you might mean that the gender gap pales in comparison to the marriage gap.
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Gosh, yes, singular! Thanks for pointing this out to me… The gender gap is the “tiny” one in comparison to the marriage gap – that would make it pale… I’ve made the appropriate change… Now, where’s my brain?
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