In an election year notable for the prominence of women, a recent poll suggests that candidates planning to win may need to focus campaign strategies more heavily on the emerging economic anxiety among female voters.
According to the poll’s findings, released on August 6 by the National Women’s Law Center, and first reported by politico.com, 59 percent of women said they were “worried and concerned about achieving [their] economic and financial goals over the next five years,” compared with just 33 percent who called themselves “hopeful and confident.”
On the other hand, 44 percent of American men said they felt confident, compared to 46 percent who said they were worried. The poll of 1,001 women and 307 men was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates from July 17 through 24, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
In general, women preferred for government to take an interventionist role to help struggling workers and their families. Seventy-five percent of women said government ought to provide more assistance to families planning for retirement, the same percentage who said the government should increase funding for childcare and early education programs. A full 77 percent of women said that the issue of pay equity should be a priority for the new president and Congress in January 2009.
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