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Margie Omero

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Women Are Behind the Obama Surge

Posted: 09/21/2012 3:39 pm

As you may have heard, it's been a bad week for Mitt Romney. And while he's taken a tumble in the polls, nationally it's still a fairly close race. But both nationwide and in some key swing states, Obama's lead among women has widened considerably. Women are behind the Obama surge.

National polling averages, like Huffington Post's own model, show a 3-point race. Other polls show a wider race, and in some, like Gallup's tracking in swing states, the race is tighter. Individual swing states, like Virginia and Ohio, also show a clear Obama lead.

Most of this movement has come from women voters. The chart below shows Obama's margin over Romney broken out by gender in public polls from August 20 through today (all telephone or IVR public polls I could easily find are included; none were left out). Not only do women consistently give Obama the edge, the gender gap in Obama's performance seems to be widening.

2012-09-21-margieomero-image002.jpg


Similarly, individual swing state polls show major Obama advantages among women. This Fox News poll in Ohio shows 57 percent of women voting for Obama -- a 23-point advantage! -- compared to a 10-point deficit among men. This week a Washington Post survey in Virginia showed something similar: a 19-point Obama advantage among women, and a 6-point deficit among men. The latest Purple Poll in a dozen swing states shows a 12-point Obama advantage among women, and a 2-point deficit among men.

The gender gap in the most recent Pew poll is +10 (defined as the difference between men and women's support for Obama). In 2008, Obama benefited from a 7-point gap. A double-digit gender gap would be larger than that of most past presidential races. And while a large gap doesn't always lead to a Democratic victory, this year it would, as Obama has led Romney more often than not.

 

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As you may have heard, it's been a bad week for Mitt Romney. And while he's taken a tumble in the polls, nationally it's still a fairly close race. But both nationwide and in some key swing states, Ob...
As you may have heard, it's been a bad week for Mitt Romney. And while he's taken a tumble in the polls, nationally it's still a fairly close race. But both nationwide and in some key swing states, Ob...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MrsHaimo
La la la la la...you're standing on my neck...
04:04 PM on 10/06/2012
Um, my hair is NOT long enough to be dragged BACK into the stone ages by these knuckle-dragging republicons!!!! It's a different world and we HAVE come a long way baby! No aprons,no fake smiles,NO pot roasts and apple pie!!!!! Wake up Grand OLD poops....we are women hear us roar!
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conscioushope
"There is no darkness but ignorance." Shakespeare
05:37 PM on 10/02/2012
Of course !!

What woman would vote for the women hating cons?!
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jkbc8484
02:57 PM on 09/25/2012
POTUS is pro-women. Some re-pubs still think we live in the dark ages when their views were (are) considered all- mighty. Hey guys this is 2012 not 1812.
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conscioushope
"There is no darkness but ignorance." Shakespeare
05:37 PM on 10/02/2012
Righg!!!
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Sheila Schultz
Theatre Critic, Professional business writer
07:50 AM on 09/25/2012
And how is Romney pollling with Latinos, African Americans and gays?
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conscioushope
"There is no darkness but ignorance." Shakespeare
05:39 PM on 10/02/2012
Exactly!!

Only old white rich males for Rom!
08:48 PM on 09/24/2012
Women will remember in November. Obama truly cares for women and he believes we can choose what is right for ourselves. I'm sure if men had this much at stake we would see a lot more males supporting the president. OBAMA 2012!
satyrday
If my micro-bio is way too long, will it be trunca
12:09 PM on 09/24/2012
Typically, my surges are also because of women.

WTG Obama!
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Levonsky
a fan of enlightened self interest
11:05 AM on 09/24/2012
kinda reminds me of Lysistrata.
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Sheila Schultz
Theatre Critic, Professional business writer
07:49 AM on 09/25/2012
Not many readers will get your reference, but I do.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
07:59 AM on 09/24/2012
Thats the way to go girls ...FORWARD . Make it a convincing win for Obama/Biden. I love educated women vision and this intuition thing works all the time.. Don't forget to get your hubbies and boyfriends to vote. This is mother of all Presidential Election.
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clearbluedaze
Things that make you go Hmmmmm....
05:50 AM on 09/24/2012
It's not over until it's over. We all need to get out there and vote, and ladies, think not only of yourselves, but think of your daughters, sisters, nieces, cousins and friends with young ladies at stake!
01:34 AM on 09/24/2012
Women will vote for education, healthcare, millions of jobs being added, equal pay laws... #Obama2012
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Elinor Dandrea
Truth above All
07:39 PM on 09/23/2012
Well you know how easily a woman is charmed by a smooth talking bad boy..who promises them contreceptives, and the freedom to act like those dead beat dads... who when they find out she's prego, they split..with those loving words ...get rid of it! Ah women have indeed likened themselves to men. Funny though, when men used to go to topless places women whose husbands wanted to go, went ballistic. Then when the shoe was on the other foot, they went to Chippendales. I never understood, the hippocracy...I still dont.
Demi Rites
Be good or go home.
06:21 AM on 09/24/2012
Um, if women have contraceptives, they aren't 'prego'. The only hypocracy I see, is you calling yourself by a female name.
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wolfsvssarah
Ugga Ugga Boo, Ugga Boo Boo Ugga!
03:27 PM on 09/24/2012
Hypocrisy is the word.
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Kathryn Elaine Kerbs
11:28 AM on 09/24/2012
WTF??? LOL
06:01 PM on 09/23/2012
I don't know what Republicans were thinking attacking women's rights. My only explanation is that on top of being bigots, they're also very bad at math. Don't they know that women are more than half the population?
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shivabeach
08:59 AM on 09/23/2012
Thank you Ladies, as usual YOU make the real difference
01:42 PM on 09/23/2012
Proud to be a woman and part of the 47%/. The biggest demographic voting bloc will be women and we have to support OBAMA/BIDEN for our families, our futures and this nation. We have to keep working hard and register new voters, out time is now.
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walkaway
07:59 PM on 09/23/2012
I'm a proud woman and part of the 53%. I would rather my tax dollars went to helping my sisters, care for children, sending young Americans to college and insuring that all of us have a safety net instead of tax breaks for millionaires and a war in Iran.

Obama/Biden in November!!!!!!!!!!!!!
07:52 AM on 09/22/2012
You might want to look at the RAND tracking poll. It showed a surge among women three weeks ago, but a similar surge among men this week. Very curious that happened weeks apart.

https://mmicdata.rand.org/alp/?page=election#results-by-respondents-characteristics
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Shawn In Qatar
Atheist describes only what I don't believe in...
10:35 AM on 09/25/2012
Not surprising at all! You'd be amazed at how a couple of weeks with no sex will change a man's mind about things;)
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MrsHaimo
La la la la la...you're standing on my neck...
04:07 PM on 10/06/2012
Ha ha ha!!!!
06:57 PM on 09/21/2012
Those two "men" outliers are distorting that quadratic fit... Why not use LOESS or RANSAC?