The counting of votes continues four days after the elections were held, and there are still a few more days to go. It is not too early, however, to study voting trends, important information for electoral analysts and sociologists alike.
CNN conducted an exit poll which gathered solid insight into voter demographics. It is based on 18,571 surveys, stratified by sex, race, age, economic status and other criteria. Of all the conclusions of the analysis, there are two that stand out: the differences between men and women and between those who are single and married.
Married men and women, who together make up 60% of the population, vote more for the Republican Party than for the Democratic Party. Married men vote 59% Republican, and 39% Democratic. Married women also favor the GOP by a margin of 56% to 42%. Single men, who comprise 16% of the voting population, also lean Republican, 52%-45%.
Single women
The only remaining group is single women, who make up 23% of the population. In this group, there is a huge Democratic Party advantage: 68% of single women vote Democrat, compared to just 31% who vote Republican.
The difference in voting trends between men and women has been observed for some time, but the gap has widened in recent years. Daniel Cox detailed this evolution an article on the platform Substack.
Marrying later and later
Based on data from American Enterprise Institute's Survey Center on American Life, Cox explains that at the turn of the century, and as recently 2014, there was a difference of around five points between young women and young men (ages 18-29) who defined themselves as "progressive." That gap has since widened to nearly 20 points.
On the other hand, the percentage of women under 30 years of age who are married has gone from 55% in 1972 to just 15% in 2021. Both trends reinforce the difference in voting trends observed between men and women and between those who are single and married.
