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An Anniversary Worth Noting [1]

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Date: 2023-11-08  

With a string of Democratic victories yesterday, including the amendment in Ohio, I wanted to note a bit of a milestone taking place today.

As of November 8, it has been thirty-five years since a Republican presidential ticket won a majority or plurality of voters. Not since then-Vice President George H.W. Bush (and it was just “George Bush” back then) defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis on November 8, 1988 have more women cast their vote for the GOP in a presidential race.

That’s almost two generations ago. To put in perspective, the last time the GOP ticket won with women, the Berlin Wall was still a thing; Taylor Swift was not yet born; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the future Prince of Wales were both in the second grade (and was I, for that matter); few people had even seen a cellular phone, let alone a computer connected to the internet; the most popular gaming console was the 8-Bit Nintendo Entertainment System, and its top selling title that month was Super Mario Bros. 2; Johnny Carson ruled late night TV, while prime time was dominated by Alex Keaton, Dr. Huxtable, and a bar where everybody knows your name, (though most shows had started production late because of a writers’ strike).

We can point to some seemingly obvious reasons for this, but, of course, it’s just speculation, and I certainly don’t wish to speak for women themselves. The point, though, is that, when your party has alienated a majority of women for that long (and remember that women have made up a higher percentage of voters since the 1980’s), it’s rather difficult to argue that your party isn’t increasingly out of touch (and that’s not even addressing the similarly long or even longer gaps among African American, Hispanic, and Asian American voters). It’s also not surprising that Republicans have won the national popular vote only once in eight subsequent elections.

Under normal circumstances, that kind of track record would demand some serious introspection. Unfortunately, the electoral college (not to mention gerrymandering at congressional and state levels) have permitted Republicans on a number of clearly unpopular positions with few consequences.

The good news is that unpopularity is finally catching up with them, and the decades-long gender gap is a large part of that. The way things are going, if the GOP does not take a long hard look at itself, they may not be a viable party (at least nationally) thirty-five years from now.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/8/2204395/-An-Anniversary-Worth-Noting?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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