Iowa Caucus Indicative of Unmarried Women's Influence in Elections

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the first contest for the White House, unmarried women of Iowa accounted for 28 percent of all Democratic caucus goers, trumping their overall share of the state's population.

"Unmarried women are the largest bloc of non-voters in the country, yet last night they made up a greater share of the electorate than their overall measure of the entire state population," said Page Gardner, President and founder of Women's Voices. Women Vote. "The high turnout of unmarried women making their voices heard in Iowa suggests that unmarried women across the country will make their presence felt at the polls to vote, demanding attention of the candidates," said Gardner.

While unmarried women are 22 percent of the eligible voting age population in Iowa, network entrance polls report that they were 28 percent of participants in the Democratic caucus. Returns by marital status in the Republican contest have not yet been released. Married women, by contrast, were in-line with their proportion of the overall population, accounting for 29 percent of the eligible population in Iowa, and accounting for 29% of Democratic caucus attendees.

For the first time in history, nationally there are as many unmarried women – single, separated, divorced, widowed – as there are married women (approximately 53 million of each). However, Compared to their married sisters, unmarried women are 9 percentage points less likely to register, and 13 percentage points less likely to vote. Marital status is one of the top four determinants of whether an individual will vote.

Although unmarried women historically register and vote at lower rates than married women, experts predict, and research indicates unmarried women could not only register in record numbers, but also vote and be influential in determining the next president. Recently released Democracy Corps polling data indicates unmarried women will improve their participation in the electorate in 2008. The poll noted specifically that unmarried women expressed elevated levels of interest in the election.

"90% of unmarried women agreed they must speak up and make their presence felt in the national conversation, if they are not satisfied with the direction our country is headed in," said Gardner, referencing WVWV's latest research. "Our most recent research tells us that unmarried women are proud that they're making it on their own, and feel it's time for the decision-makers in Washington to acknowledge their societal contributions, and respect their realities of every-day life," said Gardner.

Research indicates unmarried women are displeased with the direction the country is headed, yet are also overwhelmingly hopeful the election can substantially change the country. According to polling data 75% of unmarried women surveyed said they were "absolutely certain" they would vote in the 2008 election.

"In the last presidential election, over 150,000 unmarried women in Iowa were absent from the voting booth on Election Day. Those women were part of the 20 million unmarried women in the country whose voices were silent in 2004" said Gardner. "The 28% of Iowan women on their own who caucused is the first example of the critical role unmarried women will play in the national discussion, and demanding the attention of the Presidential candidates."

Women's Voices. Women Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization created to activate unmarried women to participate in their government and in our democracy.