Posted on 04/26/2003 8:51:20 PM PDT by Pokey78
Let's start with some basic assumptions: By and large, women do not like the idea of war. They do not play war as children; they do not promote war as adults; as mothers and wives, they do not like to send their families to fight. And now, they fear war as soldiers themselves. In fact, for the past two decades it has always been a good bet that Democrats could count on women to applaud when they complained about those warmongering Republicans. Remember Ronald Reagan's huge gender gap? He wanted to build more nukes while cutting money for school lunches. The nuclear freeze movement was born. Women signed up in droves.
Now life has changed. Thanks to terrorists with shoe bombs, anthrax in envelopes, and toxins in vials, the gender gap is shrinking fast. In two short years, there has been a meld of political thinking, particularly among women: National security is now a domestic policy issue. Homeland security is home security. Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq affect the street--and not the Arab street but the neighborhood streets. Terrorist alerts go up and down, children practice bomb drills at school, mothers worry about smallpox vaccinations. And women know that after this war, there could be another one. Or another terrorist attack. Or both. "The Pentagon is now the defense department, not the war department," says pollster Andrew Kohut, who charts a graph he calls "mothers for missile defense." It's on the upswing.
It's not that the economy and education don't matter. Of course they do: Women, like men, still consider the economy a top priority. But terrorism and national security issues are right behind it, and women are driving the shift, polls show. "Women are practical voters, and they don't have a lot of time," Mary Matalin, a former top adviser to the vice president, told me. "They don't dance on the head of a pin, either. This stuff hits very close to home. It's not fanciful. Now it's about family, and family safety." Women are more nervous than men, and they're not shy about admitting it. A recent Gallup survey noted a 21-point "fear gap" between men and women. No macho here--just real fear.
To arms. This is obviously a post-9/11 phenomenon. Consider: A Gallup Poll taken one week before the Gulf War in 1991 found that only 45 percent of women supported the attack, compared with 67 percent of men. Fast-forward to recent Iraq-war polls, which show the support of women at generally 50 percent; a recent Pew survey has the support at 61 percent. The Gulf War was about an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; the Iraq war is about a possible invasion of weapons of mass destruction at home. Sure, women are no monolith. Older and younger women were least likely to support the war. But 6 out of 10 middle-aged women support the war, according to Pew polling. The soccer moms have taken up arms.
None of this is good news for the Democrats, who have been split on the war in Iraq. In the past, Democrats could count on women, big-time. (George Bush the elder, in fact, at first trailed Michael Dukakis with women by about a dozen points.) It's not that the Democrats have lost most women on their key issues, because they haven't. Concern about healthcare? Yes. About prescription drug benefits for the elderly? Sure. About jobs and the economy? Of course. But now the matter of personal security is lingering out there, and it is potent because it is values based: Just as concern about education is all about family and children, concern about national security is all about personal safety and security. "Women never want to go through this again," says GOP pollster David Winston. "They're looking for solutions."
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle. When it comes to matters of national security, voters are predisposed to trust Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. Smart Democrats will stop dividing the political world into the Domestic Economy and Everything Else. They will understand, as women do, that national security is a domestic matter now. And that can cut both ways. The party that stops whining about the problems with homeland security and fixes it will get due credit. If the administration doesn't live up to its promises about personal safety, it will suffer.
During the Reagan years, the question was, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" This time around, women will ask, "Do you feel safer today than you did four years ago?" They want the right answer.
Yes, but they are usaully called queers. :-)
On a not so serious note. Have you ever read Andy Rooney on Older Women?:
There is hope.
Yes, but they are usually called queers. :-)
That was funny, I got a big laugh out of it.
And thanks for the link. I had read his piece before, but now I think I'll bookmark it for time to time reflection.
I don't know about you, but I actually like being older. At 47 I really like myself much more than I did when I was 20. When I was younger everything tended towards crisis for me, and now I can just let things roll off my shoulders.
Then even an oblique slight was taken to heart and promptly avenged. Now you can personally insult me and I might not give a S@#$, it all depends on how I 'feel'. And why would I spend any time avenging anything when I have FOX News and the Web? Pathetic, no?
Oh well, as they say, everyday above ground is a good day!
Thanks for the welcome BTW. I'm not really a new poster though. I originally registerd in July of '01 and then asked that my account be deleted in August of '02. I tried to re-register under my original user name, but I got caught in a loop and I wasn't able to do it. I did send a note to the websmaster advising him of this, and asking him to let me know how to re-register under my original username, if that's what he preferred I do. But I've heard nothing from him, so I'm assuming all is ok. Anyway, good to make your acquaintance rainingred.
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