KSFR reporter Mary Lou Cooper interviews Dr. Elaine Kamarck to understand the gender gap between voters in Election 2024. Kamarck is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government and former Democratic activist.
Kamarck says 2024 is a big year for the gender gap, especially because a woman is at the head of the Democratic ticket for president and because abortion is a motivating issue.
She notes that for many years, women have been a larger part of the electorate than men. In 2024, women make up 55% of the electorate while men make up 45%. And women vote more often for Democrats. However, if men increase their turnout, the tides could turn.
Younger voters are of particular interest to Kamarck—that is voters 18-29 known as Gen Z’ers. In recent years and especially during the Obama races, Democrats enjoyed an advantage among young voters, including males. However, Gen Z men are now slightly more Republican, while young women have become more liberal. That said, Kamarck reminds listeners that younger people have never voted as often as older people.
In a recent commentary for Brookings, Kamarck looked at the seven swing states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. When she compared 2024 presidential preference polls with 2020 voter turnout, Kamarck says a case could be made that Harris wins all swing states except Arizona and Georgia. However, if male voters dramatically increase their turnout, Trump could carry the day.
When KSFR asked Kamarck for her opinion on America’s readiness to elect a woman president, she said: I think so, but “old prejudices die hard.”
