Unmarried women hold solidly progressive views and would vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates if they voted regularly, according to a new poll released this week by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. The survey was sponsored by the Women’s Voices. Women Vote. Action Fund (WVWVAF) to explore the reasons that 20 million single women did not vote in the 2004 election. WVWVAF is dedicated to raising awareness among single women, who represent a quarter of all Americans of voting age.
The survey found that single women have significantly lower incomes than men or married women, feel uninformed about politics, and doubt that their votes make a difference. Two-thirds of the women polled disapprove of President Bush, and the Iraq war, health care and the economy are their top concerns. Avis Jones-DeWeever, of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said, “Unmarried women don’t vote because the government doesn’t pay attention to them,” reports the San Jose Mercury News.
In the 2004 presidential election, both parties attempted to reach out to women voters, and women’s organizations reached out to register more young women. More than 20 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in that election, an increase over previous years. Women’s organizations, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, whose Get Out Her Vote campaign increased voter registration and turn-out at campuses nationwide in 2004, are gearing up for the upcoming 2006 elections.
