3.31.00
The Other Gender Gap

3.29.00
The Blair Witch Project

3.24.00
House Chaplain Fight: Republicans 1, Lions 0

3.17.00
The Losers of 2000

recent survey provides embarrassing evidence that the most ill-informed voters, a.k.a. women, are likely to determine who next occupies the White House. In courting women voters during the primary season, both parties were wooing the indifferent according to the results of a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

When voters were asked 25 questions about candidates’ positions and biographies, men outperformed women on 15 questions where sex differences were found. Women were significantly less likely than men to know who was a former POW, or basketball player, or current governor. They were also less likely to know the candidates’ positions on universal health care, the test ban treaty, or instant gun checks. The Annenberg Center’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson was surprised at the evident “gender gap in political knowledge,” given the fact that women make up 53 percent of the electorate. But, this latest survey confirms an exhaustive 1996 study that found political ignorance discriminates by sex.

The authors of What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters, found that three-quarters of women score well below the male average on tests measuring knowledge of national politics. The gap is 50 years old and it exists between men and women of equal education and income levels. The Annenberg study also found that women score poorly regardless of age, race, income, education, marital status, or party identification. The lack of knowledge about national politics is definitely a girl thing.

The earlier study found that women tend to know more about local politics than men do, and the authors concluded that local issues are tangible and personal enough to get the attention of women.

As they compete for women voters, Al Gore and George Bush will be forcing their attentions on an uninterested audience — without the benefit of Bill Clinton’s years of experience at wooing the unwilling.

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