October 25, 2006 6:26 p.m. EST
Washington D.C. (AHN) – A recent poll conducted by the Pew Center showed that, of those surveyed, 55 percent of women voters support for the Democratic Party as opposed to 34 percent for the Republican Party. Experts and analysts say that the unlikely trend is partly due to the war in Iraq and other terrorism-related issues.
Carroll Doherty, associate director of the Pew Research Center, in an interview with the AFP said that women voters, especially married moms, are turning more Democratic now than they were four years ago.
“Four years ago Republicans were running about even with Democrats among women, but now you see a big gain for the Democrats among women,” she said.
Doherty said that although men are still divided over the President’s Iraq policy, a substantial number of women are downed by war in Iraq.
Carrie Lukas, vice president of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative advocacy group in Washington, said she believes women may snub the Republicans in upcoming Congressional elections largely out of a sense of disappointment rather than to endorse Democratic policies.
“This election has become more of a referendum on the administration or on Congress itself and that definitely has the Republicans nervous,” Lukas told AFP.
However, Lukas warned that any voting decision should made carefully and keeping in mind that are they “really looking forward to a democratically controlled Congress.”
For Bush, who has prided himself in saying that his middle initial stands for women, the slipping support could spell trouble on election day as his party seeks to hang on to its majority in Congress and grapples with a series of corruption and ethics scandals.