According to a report by U.S. Political reporter Morgan Phillips, single educated women who are delaying marriage or having kids are the “sleeping giants” of American politics. The fact that they are bucking “conservative” traditions and turning into critical voters could give Democrats the edge for decades to come.
Writing for The Daily Mail, Phillips cites CNN exit polls that found that in 2022, according to CNN exit polls, unmarried women voted for Democratic House candidates more than two-to-one – 68 to 31 percent.
GOP operative Rina Shah says this new demographic shift is quickly becoming a powerful force.
“It’s actually one of the most defining trends of this era,” Shah said, according to The Daily Mail.
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“America is more single than ever before, and unmarried college-educated women are quickly becoming the dominant voting bloc in U.S. politics,” Phillips writes. “Educated women and voters of color were primarily responsible for turning the ‘red wave’ into a red trickle in the 2022 midterm elections in the wake of the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade which enshrined a federal right to abortion. ”
“It’s like waking up a sleeping giant,” Shah said of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade. “The Democrats spoke directly to [unmarried women]. They said the Republicans are trying to take away your autonomy.”
Education levels are key in this voting bloc as women are now the majority of college graduates – a whopping 59 percent, according to a recent report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. And women of color, as a group, returned to college in greater numbers than white women and men — in the 2020-21 school year, the report states.
“If Republicans continue to insist on these extreme positions on abortion he’s never we’re never gonna get those voters,” says GOP strategist Jim Dornan, adding that Republicans may have a shot at bringing them into their party if they get tired of paying taxes.
“Women pay taxes just like everybody else, and at some point, they’re gonna get sick and tired of paying high tax rates, especially as they begin to make more money,” Dornan said. “And so if we can get the message out and get off of the cultural issues, then I think that I think that yeah, we could eventually have a shot at bringing them into our coalition. But until then, I don’t think there’s a prayer.”
