Political scholar exposes surprise gender gap in GOP’s July 4 mania

Much has been said about the partisan divide at play in the ways that Americans react to President Donald Trump, but as one political scholar revealed for The Hill, there is also a surprising gender gap going on, and it is most striking in relation to the celebration of America's 250th birthday.

Melissa K. Miller is a professor of political science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and to mark the Fourth of July, she published a new piece for The Hill revealing the findings of a national poll her school conducted with YouGov. According to the poll, she explained, gender is a significant driver of sentiment and engagement with the country's 250th anniversary, having a notable impact on whether or not the respondents said they would take part in festivities, but also on what they believed to be important to celebrate about the occasion.

"Compared to men, women are less engaged with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence," Miller explained. "They also hold significantly different views on what events surrounding the historic occasion should emphasize: less founding fathers, more bringing people together. Data from a national poll conducted by my university, Bowling Green State University, in conjunction with YouGov, makes the gender gap plain."

She continued: "Interest in America’s 250th anniversary is 10 points lower among women than men: 60 percent versus 70 percent. Women are also significantly less likely than men to say they will participate in an activity marking the occasion: 45 percent versus 54 percent. Asked to choose up to two possible emphases for the celebrations, nearly twice as many men as women select commemorating America’s founding fathers as a primary focus: 26 percent versus 14 percent. The tables turned when we asked about bringing 'Americans together across differences.' Nearly half of women, 48 percent, choose this as a focus for the semiquincentennial, versus 37 percent of men."

Miller further stressed that these findings do not appear to be the result of women statistically favoring the Democratic Party more than men. When broken down by party, there remains a major gender gap between Republican men and women, and almost no gap at all between Democratic men and women, when "controlled" for partisan affiliation, though she did note that women in both parties are less likely to celebrate based on the raw data.

"In terms of a primary emphasis on commemorating the founding fathers, the gender gap among Republicans is 16 points, with Republican women less enamored than Republican men," Miller wrote. "Among Democrats? The gender gap is statistically insignificant. The same goes for bringing Americans together across differences. While there is no gender gap among Democrats, it’s 19 points among Republicans. A majority of Republican women favor a bring-the-people-together focus for the festivities, versus just one-third of Republican men — 52 percent versus 33 percent."

She concluded: "Mindful of this exception, the Republican gender gap over America’s historic anniversary remains noteworthy. Democrats might want to take note. Low turnout among Republican women could make the difference in close House and Senate races this fall. Cue the clips of cage fighting on the White House lawn. There were no women on the card. They were hard to spot in the audience as well."