The Gender Gap throughout History 3 candidate from 1952 to 1960, and from 1956 to 1966, women were more likely to vote for Republican congressional candidates. The likely cause of women’s preference for Republicans is that women tended to be more religious and more conservative on traditional moral issues such as sexual- ity, abortion, and civil liberties for atheists, racists, and communists.4 The 1960s brought important changes in the party identification and policy positions of men and women, which continued into the 1980s. Analysis of social survey data from the early 1960s to the early 1980s reveals some important differences in the policy positions of men and women. First, women became much less likely than men to support the use of force or violence. These issues included the use of foreign force, such as military involvement, and domestic force or violence, such as capital punishment and gun rights. For example, between 1960 and 1983, women were on average nine percentage points more likely to oppose the use of force and violence.5 Second, women became more supportive of compassion issues, which are defined as issues related to the government’s care of citizens, such as income inequality, health care, and student loans. Third, in the two dec- ades leading up to 1980, women became more supportive of government regulation and protection these issues included their opposition to nuclear power as well as support for seat-belt laws and cigarette-advertising bans. While men and women’s issue positions were diverging, so were their political party affiliations. Women were growing more liberal on many issues, but men, particularly Southern white men, began moving from the Democratic to the Republican Party.6 THE 1980s GENDER GAP While the tides had been changing for some time, the 1980 election truly marked the emergence—or stabilization—of the gender gap. The 1980 election was the first time that the percentage of female voters was greater than that of male voters, with 61.9 percent of eligible women vot- ing and 61.5 percent of men voting. This change was particularly notable because women make up a slightly greater proportion of the U.S. popu- lation and, therefore, a greater number of eligible voters. In 1980, 1.7 million more women than men voted.7 Prior to 1980, there had been minor differences in how men and women voted, but it was generally assumed that married women voted the same way as their husbands. However, the 1980 election made clear that a sig- nificant gender gap was emerging, and the increased number of women voting amplified the importance of this gap. Women were significantly
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