And minorities. A recent Quinnipiac University poll indicates considerable gender and racial rifts in projected midterm voting—with 58 percent of women and only 42 percent of men reporting they will vote Democratic. In an even wider schism, 46 percent of white voters say they will vote Democratic, while 80 percent of black voters and 60 percent of Hispanic voters say the same.
This midterm election season has seen a spike of female candidates in races for Congress, with Democratic women making up 310 of the 417 women filed to run. Women are running and voting in increasing numbers, as Jill Filipovic noted in The New Republic, defining themselves as leaders of the Democratic push this fall.
The women’s vote has received new attention as Congress prepares for a partisan fight over Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court replacement, who could very well be the deciding vote that overturns Roe v. Wade. The Quinnipiac poll also reveals that 63 percent of voters agree with the Roe decision granting the right to an abortion, while only 31 percent disagree.