They Vote. What Drives Women To The Polls. Abortion, Climate, Inflation And More

Kate Cox, Latorya Beasley, Anya Cook…say their names. There are so many names of women who nearly lost their lives since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year landmark ruling Roe v. Wade that gave women reproductive rights. There are so many women fearful of losing their kids to gun violence – and worried about the future planet their kids will have. And. They. Vote.

There are so many women worried about what happens if America is no longer a democracy, if men who only focus on their own power, men who want to push women back economically, physically and electorally get (back) into office. And. They. Vote. “53% of the electorate.”

As President Biden said in his State of the Union address a couple of weeks ago, in this pivotal 2024 election, we’re about to see just how powerful women’s political and electoral power really is.

“Understanding all the different kinds of women out there is very important.”

Celinda Lake is one of, if not “the”, definitive opinion researcher on women, especially when it comes to politics and elections. Founder and CEO of Lake Research Partners, she’s been studying, polling, and talking to and about women voters for 30 years, and was one of the few pollsters who saw Hillary Clinton’s campaign being on the knife’s edge in 2016.

So, I asked her, who is the female voter today? “She’s the majority of voters, as you noted. And in every demographic and political group, women now register and turn out in higher numbers than their male counterparts. She is 53% of the electorate, 59% of Democratic primaries, and really the fortunes of the president, she will decide the presidency,” Lake told me in an exclusive interview on Electric Ladies Podcast.

“Right now, a lot of women are sitting in third party, not sure undecided, maybe I won’t vote,” because they are frustrated, feeling their needs not being met yet millions are also fearful of what might happen in Donald Trump comes back to the Oval Office.

According to Lake, “She is a key swing vote as well as part of the democratic base.” Therefore, especially in close elections like this year’s promises to be, the women voter holds the key to the election in her ballot.

“She’s not monolithic though,” Lake insists. She’s “a 40-year-old woman, she can be a young college educated woman. She can be a single mom, a woman of color. She can be a grandmother. So, she’s not monolithic at any age or demographic. And, understanding all the different kinds of women out there is very important.”

“The key for Democrats is to win women by more than they lose men.”

Here are the key issues for women, Lake said:

· “Both parties are out of touch with their economic reality: “I think many women are really torn right now. They’re worried about the economy, and they often find both parties out of touch with their economic reality,” Lake explained. “The average woman goes to the grocery store three times a week, so she’s well aware of inflation and she’s focused on food prices and healthcare costs, and both have been very high inflationary items. She’s worried about stability and security. She’s particularly worried about things consistently heading in the right direction rather than up and down.”

· When are very focused on abortion right now: “Women are very pro-choice and very pro-abortion. And the Dobbs decision really motivated a lot of women, made them 10 points more pro-abortion than they had been in the past, because many women did not think that Roe v Wade would ever be overturned. The most recent Alabama IVF decision really radicalized a lot of women,” Lake added.

“It’ll mobilize young women. It’ll mobilize women of color, it’ll mobilize college educated women,” Lake emphasized, “particularly that key group of independent women who are very influenced. And, they see it in a broader way.” She said that women put the blame on “MAGA Republicans,” saying, “they feel that there is one party here and one force, the MAGA Republicans, not all Republicans, but the MAGA Republicans who really want to control women. And it’s a bunch of older white guys who really want to make the most personal decisions for women, and it’s none of their business.”

· Influenced by their husbands: “There are a lot of women influenced by their husbands and relying on their husbands for their information,” Lake told me. “There are a lot of hardcore Republican women. There are a lot of women voting for strong leadership and the economy, but many, many women are turned off by Donald Trump’s style.” The way Trump treats women in a big turn-off to women.

· Climate change: Climate change was one of the top five issues in Lake Research’s September 2023 findings. “Women are very worried about these events, and they’re the ones that really worry about the impact on communities. They worry that whether you’re talking about a Kentucky or a Maui, um, these communities have not recovered,” Lake said.

“They like the compassionate president. They like someone who’s in tune. They want to leave a better country for their children,” adding that, “women have been very influenced by their children and their grandchildren. They will say that climate change is something that really is on my agenda more because my children talk to me about it and they listen to their children and grandchildren.”

How to talk to women voters?

How leaders talk about these issues and who talks about them matters. Focus on “the way that people live things in real lived experience. So not degrees of temperature or statistics or acronyms,” Lake advised.

She also said women listen to the weather people and first responders, healthcare providers, nurses, people who have on the ground experience.