Clinton Benefits From Gender Gap, Exit Polls Show

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Nov. 6) -- The 1996 presidential election signaled the greatest gender gap in the 20 years since exit polls began, with women predominantly voting for Clinton while men split evenly between the president and Bob Dole.

According to the exit polls, women chose Clinton over Dole 54 to 37 percent. Since the first presidential exit polls were conducted in 1976, the gender gap had never exceeded 8 percentage points.

Men split almost evenly -- about 44 percent for each candidate. Depending on final results, the election could end up being the first time in 20 years that one candidate won most of the women's vote and his opponent won most of the men's.

Family finances played a pivotal role in voters' selection. Voters who said they were "better off" than four years ago voted heavily for Clinton -- 67 percent compared with 25 percent for Dole. Those who said they were "worse off" voted 2 to 1 for Dole.

But a majority of voters said they did not consider Clinton honest and trustworthy. A large majority said they believe Clinton has not told the truth on Whitewater, including 56 percent of those in his home state of Arkansas.

However, a similarly large majority of voters said their candidate's position on the issues was more important than the candidate's character.

Clinton was able to convince moderate voters that he should be their choice, exit polls showed. Voters who identified themselves as moderates chose Clinton 57 percent to 32 percent for Dole.

In Florida, the first big electoral prize claimed by Clinton, voters of all ages who expressed concern about Medicare voted for the president 69 percent, compared with 24 percent for Dole. Clinton received 56 percent of Florida votes from those 65 or older.

Fifty-nine percent of Floridians who rated the economy as a major issue chose Clinton, compared with 28 percent for Dole.

In Dole's favor, 76 percent of nationwide voters favored his 15 percent across-the-board tax cut, while 16 percent preferred Clinton's more moderate plan. Voters also preferred Dole as the person to reduce the federal deficit -- 53 percent to 29 percent -- even though Clinton placed a higher priority on deficit reduction during his campaign.

Dole also prevailed among gun owners, taking in 51 percent of their vote, exit polls showed.

The gender gap was credited with helping re-elect at least two Democratic senators. In Minnesota, women chose Sen. Paul Wellstone, 57 percent to 40 percent, over Republican Rudy Boschwitz, while men split their vote evenly between the two. In Massachusetts, women favored Sen. John Kerry in his victorious race against Gov. William Weld by a 20 percent margin.

The exit polling is a joint project of CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, The Associated Press and Fox.

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