Across the board—whether it was women we interviewed for our qualitative deep dive or those who participated in the quantitative poll (some of their comments are below)—women spoke about the economy in personal terms: what it cost them, what they could or couldn’t afford. And it often included issues like paid leave and affordable childcare. Health care, too, was seen in terms of prescription costs, though the Black maternal health crisis was a major issue.
“Women are still at a significant disadvantage in professional settings. In my field it is much easier for a less qualified man to advance than for a more qualified woman. Further, both men and women need more support for families. There should be mandatory, government-subsidized leave and government-supported childcare.” —a Democrat from Illinois
“Childcare costs need to be capped because the rates are exorbitant, which means the mother either can’t work, or must work more, in which case she’s unable to spend time with and nurture her child.” —a Republican from Georgia
“Women should be making the same salary as men doing the same type of work.” —a Democrat from Illinois
“Give more tax breaks to families, which would put more money in their pocket so the mom wouldn’t have to work full-time.” —a Republican from Tennessee
“We need affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable childcare, access to abortion, mental health care, equal pay, more representation in all institutions.” —a Democrat from Michigan
“Women, particularly Black and minority women, remain undertreated and mistreated in health care. They are more likely to die in childbirth. The wage gap continues to affect women.” —a Democrat from Ohio
While women are largely united in naming the top two issues, when you break it down along party lines in our poll, other voting concerns begin to emerge. For Democratic women, two further key election issues are gun policy and abortion. For Republican women, it’s criminal justice and foreign policy. Some independent-leaning women additionally raised the transgender debate in sports.
“Removing our rights as far as abortion is not acceptable. We have a right to health care. We have the right to make the choice whether we want to carry a baby or not.” —a Democrat from Wisconsin
“Not all women want abortion to be freely available and legal. Women want to be able to own guns if they qualify but don’t want their abusers to be able to buy them.” —a Republican from Michigan
“Health care needs to be accessible for everyone, guns need to be controlled, inflation needs to go down, the wealthy need to be taxed.” —an undecided from California
“I am now 72 and have no need of reproductive health services. However, I have two granddaughters who now have less right to bodily autonomy than I did, and that is simply wrong! Stop hating LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, people of color, and anyone who looks, loves, or thinks differently from you! Stop mass shootings by banning military-style guns!! And for God’s sake—stop banning books.” —a Democrat from North Carolina
“Biological women are different from biological men physically but should be treated equally intellectually. Sports should be in a separate category due to males being stronger physically than women.” —an independent from Hawaii
(Read more about how the economy and health care influence women’s votes in the story of “The Workers Behind the Workers.”)
WOMEN’S IDENTITIES
One of the most significant aspects we wanted to explore in the Glamour-YouGov poll was how women identify themselves and how that identity could influence their view of the current political climate.
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