Below are exit poll results conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International highlighting findings on gender.
The Gender Gap: The difference between the percentages of women and men who support a given candidate, generally the leading or winning candidate. Even if women and men favor the same candidate, they may do so by different margins, resulting in a gender gap. We calculate the gender gap for each poll based on the votes of women and men who support the candidate leading in that poll.
Example: [%Women for Leading Candidate] – [%Men for Leading Candidate] = Gender Gap
The Women's Vote: The percentage point advantage that one candidate has over the other among women voters – that is, the difference in support for the major party candidates among women voters only.
Example: [%Women for Obama] – [%Women for Romney] = Women's Vote
* Exit Polls were only conducted in 31 states.
Poll | Date in Field | Overall Results | Gender Gap |
Women's Vote
|
Women for Romney
|
Men for Romney
|
Women for Obama
|
Men for Obama
|
National Exit Poll | 11/06 |
Obama 51% Romney 47% |
10 pts. | +11% Obama | 44% | 52% | 55% | 45% |
© Copyright Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey