What Do Women (Voters) Want?
For Democrats, it had been pretty clear that the answer to the question above was "Hillary Clinton" - until the Iowa caucuses, when the female vote unexpectedly tipped in favor of Barack Obama. Then, just as unexpectedly, women voters in New Hampshire powered a Hillary comeback. Laura McKenna examines - without tears - how it happened.
What do women voters think of Hillary Clinton? That’s the question of the moment, though it has been kicking around for some months.
The polls show that women voters in Iowa went for Obama, but in New Hampshire they voted for Hillary. Did she gain some new traction with women by misting up on the campaign trail, by seeming vulnerable, or by talking more about the economy?
It’s insane to make generalizations about American women as a whole based on the primary elections in New Hampshire. There was an 8,000 vote difference between Obama and Hillary. We have to use caution when examining the poll results in these states for clues about the nation at large.
Instead of trying to understand the female primary voter, let’s look at women pundits and the feminist blogosphere. The chickosphere is a smaller sample than primary women voters (though not by much).
Their reaction to Hillary has also been less ambiguous and is easily Googled.
In the fall, many of the prominent feminist bloggers were supporting Edwards. The feminist bloggers are closely tied to the Netroots, the liberal wing of the blogosphere, and the Netroots were in the hot tub with Edwards. The feminist bloggers felt that Clinton was too centrist and that Edwards had a better health plan. Curiously, the opportunity to elect the first women president was less important than those other issues.
With Edwards now running third, it is less clear about where the feminist bloggers are going. Cards are being kept close to the chest.
Hillary is getting much sympathy from pundits and bloggers about the image problem that women leaders face. Most women have had that “shrill and strident” label smacked on their forehead at one point or another.
They also know what it feels like when the young, handsome, Harvard-educated golden boys like Barack Obama take home all the prizes.
These problems aren’t isolated to liberal women. Senior editor at Reason, Kerry Howley, writes,
Add to this useful list of the worst jobs in the world: consultant to any candidate with breasts. Show emotion and you’re weak; show strength and you’re a collection of servos. Respond to attacks with emotion and you’re “angry.” Respond with equanimity and you’re cold and distant. Shy from war and you’re too feminine to lead; embrace it and you’re the establishment’s whore. And the worst thing you can do? Acknowledge, in any way, shape, or form, the existence of sexism in these United States.
Women bloggers aren’t sure if they want to vote for Hillary, but they absolutely don’t want anyone else to bash her. The sisterhood locks arms when nasty remarks are made about her v-neck sweaters or her black pantsuits. When New York Times columnistMaureen Dowd, gender traitor that she is, makes barbed jokes about Hillary being the heroine of a Lifetime movie, then the sisterhood fires back, “There’s really not enough Shutting Up in the world to deal with that sputtered puddle of bile.”
Lessons learned? If you really want women to vote for Hillary, pick on her clothes and her tears. Call her strident. Call her bitchy. But if you take gender out of the equation, then women are going to weigh her other qualities on the same scale as the guys. Hillary is like my little sister. Only I am allowed to beat her up.
Laura McKenna is a political science professor who lives in New Jersey. She blogs at 11D.
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25 Comments
1. NeverCertain:Spot on. What Obama should do is make the obvious connection between the false allegations Hillary and Bill made in New Hampshire to those made by Bush and Rove against Gore and Kerrey. If voters come to think of Hillary (correctly) as a Democratic version of Bush/Rove then Obama should be able to have a clear and well deserved win.
Jan 10, 2008 - 2:52 am 2. syn:What do women voters want?
Someone who will ease their fear of ending up as bag-ladies living on the streets; Hillarycares and she’s going to get Big Daddy to foot the bill.
After 46 years of hearing about feminist ‘empowerment’ tripe I never thought my gender meant hapless crybabies Oprahfried by feelings.
Jan 10, 2008 - 5:12 am 3. sfcmac:As a single female Republican, I hate being a scapegoat for the Democratic female (and male) sheeple who have their heads so far up their asses, it would take a lengthy surgical procedure to extract them. What do I want? I want a strong, confident leader who will be tough on illegal immigration, build a border wall, stand up to the Euro effetes, tell the ACLU and terrorist fronts like CAIR to shove it, and put America first.
Jan 10, 2008 - 6:31 am 4. Josh:Full disclosure: I’m a male Republican definetley not voting Democrat male or female, but I watch all the debates on both sides and I’ll say this: If I was voting Democrat I’d vote for Hillary. She is absolutley more thoughtful and aware than Obama. She nailed him to the wall after Obama said he’d clear out of Iraq in 90 days or something. She said. “Wait a minute boy wonder, what about the 100,000 American contractors and aid workers? I don’t think Obama thinks that deeply. He only knows how to hype his superficial “change” mantra. Hillary is smarter and deeper.
Jan 10, 2008 - 7:46 am 5. RE:Hillary is smarter and deeper.
That’s true. She is also more sinsister and manipulative. Choose your poison.
Neither of them are anywhere near qualified enough to lead a company, let alone a country. It’s embarassing that such thin resumes are standing up there and being taken seriously by some.
Jan 10, 2008 - 8:21 am 6. Grace Farmer:Pardon me if I don’t want to elect a snivelling teary – eyed woman to the Presidency.
If Hillary wants the Presidency so bad then she needs to call Margaret Thatcher and get some lessons on what NOT to do.
Jan 10, 2008 - 9:05 am 7. Ralph Phelan:“Shy from war and you’re too feminine to lead; embrace it and you’re the establishment’s whore.”
That’s not a “female candidate” problem, that’s a “Democrat candidate” problem. A substantial fraction of their primary voters is in sharp disagreement with the majority of general election voters on an important issue. Getting nominated without blowing chances of getting elected is gonna be tough for all of them.
Jan 10, 2008 - 9:28 am 8. Roark:Let’s face reality here, most women vote based on either looks or how many hand-outs the state will bestow. By their nature they are emotional, nurturing beings, so why would women vote based on the principles of reason when reason is not the big group hug-everyone gets a medal-philosophy most women are attracted to. From what I can tell, the problem started around the 19th amendment.
Jan 10, 2008 - 9:34 am 9. David Thomson:“Hillary is like my little sister. Only I am allowed to beat her up.”
The responsibilities of the presidency are too important to allow one’s loyalty to the sisterhood to become the determining factor during election time. This is especially true when the elected commander-in-chief must deal with defense issues. No, I am going to continue beating up this “little sister.” It’s not my problem if she can’t handle it. I don’t owe her a thing. She must earn everything she gets.
Jan 10, 2008 - 9:52 am 10. Dan:This a good look at Clinton, but there is one word that dispells the thesis:
Thatcher.
Jan 10, 2008 - 10:46 am 11. doug in Colorado:Let me make a comment I don’t see others making…
If the most qualified person who will do the best job of defending America from enemies foreign and domestic were black, or female, or both, I’d vote for them.
Hillary is the plumber’s wife…when your basement is flooding, do you want the plumber to show up, or his wife? To lead the Greenbay Packers do you want Mr. Farvre or his wife?
Obama is a lightweight, with no executive experience, not even able to match Hillary’s “pillow talk, We are the President, two-for-one” sale.
Jan 10, 2008 - 10:47 am 12. debbie:Neither one can be counted on when the going gets tough…remember young charismatic JFK, whose foreign policy blunders included the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missle Crisis, among others…another “fabulous” lightweight who hired his own brother for Attorney General …another brilliant move.
I am a single, conservative, heterosexual,Christian woman and whenever “women’s issues” are listed, I guarantee I have not been consulted.
Remember the Kerry/Edwards sign from 2004 “Help is on the Way!”?
Everytime I saw it, I wanted to gag. I do not WANT the government to “help” me. I want them to keep the country secure and otherwise leave me alone. For my part, I will work and contribute to the tax base as long as I am able,I will
keep the laws set down by the legislature. I will be a good neighbor, friend,citizen, family member. I will take responsibility for my actions. I have no interest in a nanny state or nanny politicians. So, what I want from a leader is not someone who will help me, but someone who will secure the country in which I live. Then I, with God’s help, will take care of myself.
Jan 10, 2008 - 10:53 am 13. molon labe:I do believe you forgot to include your [sarcasm] tags, Roark or the ghost of Ayn Rand will come find you in dark alleys and elsewhere.
Josh has it about right. I am female, not inclined to vote for any Dem from the last 35 years or so. But if the choice were Hillary or Obama, the country would be better off with the former than the empty suit with big socialist ideas and a disastrous foreign policy.
Jan 10, 2008 - 11:07 am 14. Achillea:Pundits and wannabe-pundits who waste ink (or pixels) on any candidate’s clothes don’t affect my voting choices. They do cause me to discount the commentator as frivolous and a waste of time.
Jan 10, 2008 - 11:45 am 15. Portia:I was disgusted with the “great sisterhood” in kindergarten. It was inevitably used by the least talented, most spoiled, whiny daddy’s girls to get the rest of us to do their dirty work and/or protect them from the consequences of their manipulative, nasty behavior. And the sisterhood absolutely turns on you if you do not stand with them on everything. By the end of kindergarten I was already puzzled as to why my gender — yes, I am female — fell for this game and went with the “we’ll protect any girl from any boy” nonsense.
I can’t understand how adult, seemingly thinking human beings can still be trying to wrap that hreadbare blanket around themselves, much less around a prize bully like Hillary whose picture is in the dictionary under “mean girl.”
And yeah, her resume is more substantial than Obama’s, that is to say, she has more experience with top-down control, though he’s said to be more intransigent on their common — socialist — principles. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
I can’t believe the Democratic party can have fielded the candidates they did, and the Republicans are not much of an improvement. And if women keep voting with their wombs they’ll get the goverment they deserve. Unfortunately, so will the rest of us.
P.
Jan 10, 2008 - 11:46 am 16. Ralph Phelan:“If you really want women to vote for Hillary, pick on her clothes and her tears. Call her strident. Call her bitchy. But if you take gender out of the equation, then women are going to weigh her other qualities on the same scale as the guys.”
The above does not sound to me like “the sisterhood sticking together no matter what,” it sounds to me like “demanding equal treatment” and entirely reasonable.
If the “sisterhood” sticks together when people call Clinton a corrupt nanny-state socialist with delusions of competence there’s something wrong.
But if the “sisterhood” sticks together when people go off on Clinton’s clothes, looks, or demeanor that’s a rational response to discourage unfair treatment of women for being women.
Jan 10, 2008 - 12:48 pm 17. Bill from Rogers Park:In matters like this, I prefer to simply observe my wife.
Jan 10, 2008 - 12:51 pm 18. sharinlite:She’s a self-employed professional with a graduate degree; undergrad at a women’s college; big-urban raised; and her career is in a near-social-worker milleu (gerontology).
And yet, she so despises Clinton it takes my breath away.
It has to do with lying.
Maybe she’s just simple-minded. I will add she has none too much truck with whiny victimists. She got what she got by working so hard she makes one tired watching. Maybe that might mean she didn’t marry into a nepotist’s throne.
Meanwhile, as a Chicagoan who’s watched Obama being groomed by the Daley machine for many years, I’ll have to add that no matter how vapidly he speaks, there’s less than meets the ears- he’s a Daley Machine bot, and he has a mission. The antiquated 1972 politics is just a fog. His job is to keep the Boss out of prison, and to keep the pork coming.
Bill
And that, is a damn shame. Fifty years from the bra burners taking over the Women’s Movement and it is still O.K. to think about a woman as a “little girl”! Actually, Hillary is a female in wolf’s clothing…she and most of her most ardent supporters do not know the meaning of the word “WOMAN”!! That is the message the women of this country had better understand sooner rather than later, otherwise, you are going to see an actual Queen Bee in the WH and it will not be fun for you, me or Bubba!!
Jan 10, 2008 - 3:12 pm 19. GawainsGhost:What do women want?
I don’t know and I don’t care.
What she wants, what she thinks, what she believes is of zero consequence to me. Because none of that has anything to do with what my responsibilities are as a man.
It’s not my job to be a knight. It’s not my job to be a prince. It’s not my job to solve her problems.
It is my job to provide for myself and my family. My only concern is achieving financial security so that I can do that.
She doesn’t like it? I don’t care. She can buy her own house.
Jan 10, 2008 - 4:46 pm 20. Peg C.:Feminism has painted women into a corner: can’t be feminine, can’t be masculine. I never felt so free as I did when I left both the lefty-feminist fascism and the Dem party.
Women are reaping what they’ve sowed. I wouldn’t vote for Hillary! if you put a gun to my head. Give me a Maggie Thatcher and I’m there. Most world leaders will continue to be men because Thatcher was an anomaly and leadership does not come naturally to women. I know enough female managers to know I’m right. To fall back on one’s female weaknesses when the big boys come after you is just disgusting and pathetic. Don’t you think our enemies are praying we elect a Dem and especially a female? (Not that Obama or the Breck Girl would be a threat to anyone either.)
Jan 10, 2008 - 8:53 pm 21. JM Hanes:I look forward to the follow-up article on What Male Voters Want.
Jan 10, 2008 - 10:17 pm 22. RE:I believe that a very large number of female voters want to feel rather than know, with the degree to which they do corresponding to where they fall on the liberal/conservative spectrum. For example, in feeling they are safe rather than knowing they are safe, they can avoid the ugly details of threat elimination , which quite often involves violence and other nasty stuff that contradicts their natural ‘nurture’ predisposition.
Spiders and snakes are the universal exceptions to my theory, of course.
Jan 11, 2008 - 4:33 am 23. Grace Farmer:RE:
As a female caught out of the country on 9-11. I KNOW I am still not safe and I sure as heck don’t FEEL safe. I also know that a teary, snivelleing presidential wanna be sure will not have the guts or the cahones to make sure that I feel safe or know that I am safe.
So what then? Live life and go on…leaving the emotion out of it.
Jan 11, 2008 - 7:14 am 24. SukieTawdry:Sure, like Hillary, I’ve been called “shrill and strident” from time to time. Usually when, like Hillary, I’ve been shrill and strident. What, we don’t get to call Hillary on those moments because she’s a girl? I don’t know why not because I see a lot of style point criticism directed at the male candidates. Hillary is possibly at her most “shrill and strident” when she cackles in response to a question she doesn’t like to either avoid answering it or to suggest that the question itself is laughable. She doesn’t cackle in moments of genuine amusement. So, Hillary, maybe you should stop using fake laughter as an avoidance technique. It’s shrill and strident.
I don’t care who the “sisterhood” is supporting in the primaries. If Clinton’s the nominee, they’ll line up behind her. And it won’t have anything to do with any Hillary-bashing that’s occurred along the way. It’s ludicrous to suggest they’d do anything else. And, those of us outside the sisterhood, I hope, won’t be swayed by such trivialities as whether or not Hillary Clinton’s being picked on.
Jan 14, 2008 - 7:02 pm 25. Barbara G:I perceive a ‘whigger’ mentality emanating from the women’s vote for Obama. Once they vote for Barack they won’t go back.
Jan 14, 2008 - 10:07 pm