19th Amendment Shapes Elections 90 Years Later

By Lee Shearer
Athens Banner-Herald
August 27, 2010

Ninety years after the 19th amendment guaranteed women the right to vote, their impact at the ballot box not only influences who wins elections, it shapes the debate along the way, experts say.

Not only do women outnumber men overall in the U.S. population, but they also are more likely to register to vote and to take the trouble to cast a ballot.

And, as more than 50 years of exit polls showed, women don't vote the same as men.

"Because of personal experience, they are more likely to get items on the agenda beneficial to women," said UGA political science professor Charles Bullock, pointing out that women are more likely to be single parents, for example.

The difference was obvious by the 1950s, when proportionally more women than men supported Dwight Eisenhower for president.

But beginning with the 1980 election, pollsters have seen women's vote shift more Democratic.

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