Check this:
In the 2020 presidential election, 63% of unmarried women voted for Joe Biden and 36% for Donald Trump—a 27-percentage-point spread. Married women, however, voted for Donald Trump 51-47. That’s a 31-point gap between unmarried and married women in support of Biden.
That’s not what’s amazing. This is:
Married women are not only more Republican than never-married women, they’re also more Republican than women who are divorced, separated, or widowed. That suggests men might have something to do with women’s voting patterns.
Pew Research Center has the most recent data on this phenomenon. In their 2023 annual trends survey, they asked registered voters about their partisan allegiance.
Women: 51-44 Democrat
Men: 52-46 Republican
Never-married women: 72-24 Democrat
Married women: 50-45 Republican
Divorced/separated women: 51-44 Democrat
Widowed women: 47-46 Democrat
Now, up front, Pew doesn’t draw a causal link between marriage and changes in a woman’s politics. We don't know whether marriage makes women more Republican or whether Republican women are more likely to get and stay married.
On top of that, age matters. Older people are more Republican and more likely to be married. Geography also matters, with people in the conservative states marrying younger than people in liberal states.
That being said, marriage surely drives at least some women to the Republican Party, whether it’s because they’re assuming more traditional gender roles, because they feel less of a need to depend on government services in what is likely a multi-income household, or because of something else entirely.
Pew also finds that 64% of unmarried women who live with their partner are Democrats, while only 33% are Republicans. But that’s no doubt because unmarried cohabitation is way more common among liberals, while conservatives are less likely to live together before getting hitched.
Funny enough, 61% of never-married men are Democratic. That’s either a function of age—younger people are more likely to be unmarried and liberal—or an indictment of the institution of marriage itself. No wonder Republicans are obsessed with not just getting people married (like Taylor Swift) but keeping them married by attacking no-fault divorce.
I doubt the role that marriage may play in shaping women’s politics is news to many women. After all, a lot of them have been waging a guerilla campaign to convince their married counterparts to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and lie to their husbands about it.
All throughout this article, you’ll find pictures of some of the messages that women have left on bathroom mirrors, women’s gym locker rooms, on tampon boxes, and other places where husbands won’t see them. And the message is clear: Your vote is secret, and your husband doesn’t have to know.
This clever ad from Vote Common Good features Julia Roberts delivering the same message:
This NBC News story from late September has some delightful anecdotes:
"I gave somebody the advice when she's like, 'I don't know where to put it,' and so I said my favorite thing to do is to put them on tampon boxes, birth control boxes, diaper bags, [that] kind of thing," said Susan Visser Saez, 61, of Bella Vista, Arkansas.
Donna Savage, 76, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said, "Just today, I was in bathrooms at a couple of places and put them up in each stall," plus bathroom mirrors.
Liz Nace, 81, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, always keeps sticky notes in her purse, spreading the pro-Harris messages in stores and restaurants to “atone for the fact that I voted for Trump in 2016.”
I know many of you are partaking in this form of guerrilla activism. Please share your stories, and hopefully, we can inspire more women to take part!
As for men—and you white dudes in particular—you’ve got to take care of your own house.
Let's get to work electing Kamala Harris our next president! Sign up for as many shifts as you can between now and Nov. 5 to talk with progressive voters in key states who might not turn out without hearing from you!
