The Galling Gap

If Ronald Reagan loses the Presidency in ’84,” says a top White House aide, “the first thing I’m going to look at is the gender gap.” Hard to believe though it is, Ronald Reagan’s number-one problem, as perceived today by his political brain trust, is his relatively low standing with women, ten points lower than his standing with men. A recent Gallup poll showed that the President’s approval rating was positive with 49 per cent of men, but only with 38 per cent of women. Additionally, a Washington Post NBC poll revealed a few weeks ago that 45 per cent of women think of themselves as Democrats, whereas 33 per cent of men do, although up through the Seventies women differed little from men in party allegiance.

The hard Right is very uptight about the gap, downplaying it, even refusing to talk about it. They see the gender issue as a vehicle for organized feminist groups like the National Organization for Women and the National Abortion Rights Action League to push their agenda. These hardliners rather conveniently overlook the fact that other, old-line women’s organizations, like the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, are also much involved with the women’s equity issue and figure in Reagan’s low distaff rating. Muriel Siebert, the outspoken New York stockbroker who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP senatorial nomination in New York last year, says, “If things don’t change pretty quickly and dramatically the Republican Party can soon count on the same degree of support from women that it has come to expect from blacks.” Albeit exaggerated, the trend is there, and what torments the President’s men is that the gap appears to be widening, if you believe White House pollster Robert Teeter.

JM

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John McLaughlin

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If Ronald Reagan loses the Presidency in ’84,” says a top White House aide, “the first thing I’m going to look at is the gender gap.” Hard to believe though it is, Ronald Reagan’s number-one problem, as perceived today by his political brain trust, is his relatively low standing with women, ten points lower than his standing with men. A recent Gallup poll showed that the President’s approval rating was positive with 49 per cent of men, but only with 38 per cent of women. Additionally, a Washington Post NBC poll revealed a few weeks ago that 45 per cent of women think of themselves as Democrats, whereas 33 per cent of men do, although up through the Seventies women differed little from men in party allegiance.

The hard Right is very uptight about the gap, downplaying it, even refusing to talk about it. They see the gender issue as a vehicle for organized feminist groups like the National Organization for Women and the National Abortion Rights Action League to push their agenda. These hardliners rather conveniently overlook the fact that other, old-line women’s organizations, like the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, are also much involved with the women’s equity issue and figure in Reagan’s low distaff rating. Muriel Siebert, the outspoken New York stockbroker who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP senatorial nomination in New York last year, says, “If things don’t change pretty quickly and dramatically the Republican Party can soon count on the same degree of support from women that it has come to expect from blacks.” Albeit exaggerated, the trend is there, and what torments the President’s men is that the gap appears to be widening, if you believe White House pollster Robert Teeter.