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The Gender Gap throughout History 13 Whether or not soccer moms or women in general decided the 1996 election, Clinton won with the largest gender gap of the 20th century. Clinton won 54 percent of women voters, while Dole won only 38 percent and Ross Perot picked up 7 percent. Male voters, on the other hand, were relatively equally split between Clinton (43 percent) and Dole (44 per- cent). Ultimately, Clinton won the popular vote by 8.51 points, meaning Clinton’s 11-point advantage among women was essential to his victory. THE BUSH YEARS: SOCCER MOMS TO SECURITY MOMS The presidential election of 2000 was no doubt one of the most interest- ing in history, with the Supreme Court ultimately deciding the outcome. One St. Louis Post-Dispatch article titled “Undecided Women May Hold Key to the Election”39 highlighted the importance of winning women voters, who were proportionately more likely to be undecided. Both can- didates attempted to win their votes. Al Gore campaigned on many issues important to women, such as health care and education. He had the support of Planned Parenthood, and the organization helped to mobilize women voters against Bush.40 Gore also focused on the theme of “working families” in an effort to attract women voters.41 Women were central to Gore’s campaign strategy. As one Washington Post headline stated, “Strength among Women Is the Atlas of Gore’s Campaign.”42 Polling six weeks out from the election showed that Gore’s strategy was working, and he had a 10-point lead among women. Bush also made efforts to sway women voters by discussing family val- ues and appearing on TV shows like Oprah. Bush also campaigned as a “compassionate conservative” in an effort to appeal to women his Repub- lican predecessors could not.43 The media regularly reported on Bush’s trouble with women and attempts to win them with headlines like “Even Softening GOP’s Tough Image Isn’t Helping Bush Bridge Gender Gap” and “Bush Working to Win Back Women’s Support.”44 In the end, Bush won the election but lost women voters by a 10-point margin. Gore did particularly well among women in states with poor scores for women’s health, employment, and earnings. Had the election been decided on national plurality, Gore would have been elected because of women 8.4 million more women than men voted in 2000, and 54 percent of them voted for Gore.45 The context of the 2004 election was very different than that of 2000. Terrorists had attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 the United States was engaged in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan and George W. Bush was running for reelection. Given the heighted discussion and