"In total, there are over 53 million unmarried women of voting age, a number that dwarfs the percentage of seniors, people of color and even union members," the pollsters report. "Unfortunately, in the past their levels of participation and registration have ranked well below that of married women. In all, 20 million unmarried women did not vote in the last election."
Increasing turnout among these unmarried women could help cinch 2008 and other future elections for the Democrats.
To do this, Democrats must offer policy proposals that especially appeal to unmarried women, and the pollsters point to a series of "Democracy Corps" surveys that suggest what these issues might be. In a September poll, for example, respondents were read a list of nine "concerns" and asked to name the two they believed the president and Congress should pay the most attention to. While the war in Iraq topped the list for both all respondents and unmarried women, the other eight concerns revealed a certain trend.
Unmarried women, it turned out, were more likely than respondents in general to want the president and Congress to pay attention to health care, the economy and jobs, and Social Security and Medicare. They were less likely to want the president and Congress to pay attention to terrorism and national security, illegal immigration, energy and gas prices, taxes and spending, and moral values.
Unmarried women, the pollsters said, "reject the Bush supply-side approach to economics" and agree by 58 percent to 32 percent that America does better when "our government helps create conditions so that many can prosper, not just a few," as opposed to when "we have a limited government that keeps taxes low so that businesses and individuals can prosper."
Unmarried women are also ready to support socialized medicine, the pollsters say. "American voters in general may shy away from 'radical' steps such as importing a Canadian-style system," the pollsters reported. "Unmarried women, however, embrace such a powerful step."
What unmarried women seem to want in greater proportion than the overall population is a government that will take care of them. As marriage and family decline in America, the political pressure will mount for government to expand. When government grows, freedom shrinks.
Baby boom liberals may forever deny it, but freedom depends on the bonds of marriage. |