Executive Summary

In the 2004 election, unmarried women participated in larger numbers than ever before and voted for change. In a year characterized by high turnout, unmarried women voted in higher numbers, and were one of the few demographic groups that significantly increased their share of the electorate. They participated despite their doubts about the effectiveness of politics and the fact that the y did not hear politicians speak to them about the issues they care about most passionately. Unmarried women voted because they believe voting is an important civic responsibility, they knew the stakes in the 2004 election were particularly high and they wanted change.

This report examines data from four post-election studies of the unmarried women’s vote and, because each addresses different questions, extensive analysis is possible on a number of subjects. These four studies include: national exit polling data; state exit polling data in 10 of the 16 states in which Women’s Voices. Women Vote (WVWV) conducted programs; an oversample of unmarried women in the Democracy Corps post-election survey; and a post-election survey of unmarried women in the 16 states in which WVWV conducted a variety of programs. All four studies show a remarkably consistent picture: Unmarried women had a distinct change agenda and were not distracted by other issues.

Methodology:

This report is based on four data sources: The National Election Pool’s Exit Polls conducted by
Edison/Mitofsky on Election Day (13,660 respondents, 3,062 of which were unmarried women);  available state-level data for 10 of the 16 states in which WVWV conducted programs: IA, MI, MN, MO, NH, NV, OH, OR, PA, and WI; Democracy Corps' national post-election survey of 2,000 voters, 410 of whom were unmarried women; and a WVWV 16 state survey of 1,067 unmarried women voters under 65  in the 16 states in which WVWV conducted voter registration and GOTV efforts (Fl, IA, LA, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NV, OH, OR, PA, SC, SD, WA, and WI).

Key Findings

• In a year with high turnout, unmarried women were one of the few demographic groups to increase their share of the electorate, from 19 percent in 2000 to 22.4 percent in 2004.
• Unmarried women voted for Kerry by a 25-point margin (62 to 37 percent), while married women voted for President Bush by an 11-point margin (55 percent to 44 percent).
• The marriage gap is a defining dynamic in today’s politics, eclipsing the gender gap, with marital status a significant predictor of the vote, independent of the effects of age, race, income, education or gender.