New Democrat Update

UNDERSTANDING THE GENDER GAP

Many political “experts” and pundits assert that the key to Democratic victories is to widen the so-called gender gap. In their minds, victory is assured only if the message and agenda pay extraordinary attention to women.

In fact, droves of women are not flocking to the Democratic Party - they simply have not been deserting as quickly as men. According to the University of Michigan, the share of men self-identifying as Democrats fell from 59 percent to 49 percent from 1952 to 1998. The women's numbers were relatively more stable, dropping from 58 percent to 54 percent.

The nature and size of the gender gap is actually driven by men - the voters who have been “switching” more frequently and dramatically. As a result, when the gender gap grows larger, the GOP generally benefits.

Making additional inroads into the women's vote will get increasingly more difficult for Democrats. That's true because other differences - race, income, education, single, married - have greater influence on voting behavior and generate larger gaps than gender.

For example, when minorities are subtracted out of the women vote, Democrats and Republicans roughly split the difference. Majorities of white women have been voting for the GOP in the 1990s.

It may be time for Democrats to realize that they are probably doing as well as realistically possible with women. The true key to electoral viability is to maintain that advantage while shoring up support from men.

“FORGOTTEN MAJORITY”

“America's Forgotten Majority,” written by Joel Rogers and Ruy Teixeira in the June edition of The Atlantic Monthly, is a must read for New Democrats. The authors contend that the 800-pound gorilla in politics today is the new white working class in the suburbs - “two-earner families of low to moderate education and income, generally working in low-level white-collar, service and skilled blue-collar jobs.” Only 17 percent of forgotten majority workers work in manufacturing.

The Summer 2000 edition of Blueprint could not be more timely. It shows how new and specific initiatives can spread the prosperity of the New Economy to these very workers.

For a hard copy of the article or the new Blueprint, contact the Colorado DLC.

NATIONAL CONVERSATION

Colorado state legislators and other leaders from around the country will be joining over 200 New Democrat elected officials and community leaders at the DLC's 4th Annual National Conversation on July 14-15 in Baltimore, Maryland. Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley are serving as co-chairs. Both President Clinton and Vice President Gore will participate.

The New Economy - driven by technology, globalization and new methods of organizing work - has rapidly emerged in recent years. Using the New Democrat's progressive governing values of opportunity, responsibility and community, this years emphasis will be on how to make the forces propelling the New Economy work for all Americans. Particular focuses will be on successful, innovative initiatives that have brought economic prosperity to communities and what still needs to be done to bring the less fortunate into the New Economy.

Thus far, State Representatives Fran Coleman, Bob Hagedorn, Abel Tapia and Suzanne Williams, along with State Senator Stan Matsunaka and Glendale Mayor Joe Rice, are the Colorado elected officials attending this important meeting. Next months New Democrat Update will have a report.