Gender gap stats

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 15-26 (before the Republican and Democratic conventions), there is a 16-point gender gap in general election support for Clinton. Overall, 59% of women voters say they would support Clinton over Trump, compared with 43% of men. 

Other recent national polls also have found a double-digit gap between men and women in their support for Clinton. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey fielded July 9-13 found women registered voters were 13 points more likely than men to back Clinton over Trump in a head-to-head contest. A CBS News poll conducted last week (July 22-24) has women registered voters 11 points more likely than men to support Clinton. 

More than three months before Election Day, the presidential contest is fluid. It remains to be seen whether the gender gap this fall will be on par with other recent elections, or whether men and women will be further apart in their preferences than in any of the last 11 presidential elections. 

The June Pew Research Center survey shows the gender gap in presidential candidate preference can be seen across demographic groups. For example, among those ages 18-34, there is an 18-point gap in support for Clinton between women (69%) and men (51%). Among those ages 65 and older – a group that overall supports Clinton at lower rates than younger adults – there is a 13-point gap between the share of women (52%) and men (39%) who favor the Democratic candidate.
Differences between men and women also are seen in their views of the two 2016 candidates’ personal traits and characteristics. 

More women (53%) than men (42%) say Clinton understands the needs of people like them very or fairly well. Four years ago, there was a similar 10-point gap between the share of men and women who said that Democratic candidate Barack Obama understood their needs (53% of men, compared with 63% of women). 

In the Center’s current survey, men were 15 points more likely than women to say Trump understands their needs (44% vs. 29%); in 2012, there was a smaller 6-point gap between the share of men (47%) and women (41%) who said the Republican candidate Mitt Romney understood their needs. 

When it comes to which candidate is better described by the phrase “would use good judgment in a crisis,” 46% of men say Clinton is better described this way, compared with 60% of women. This 14-point gap is larger than the gender difference in views of Obama on this dimension in 2012. Four years ago, 46% of men and 52% of women said Obama was the candidate better described by the phrase “would use good judgment in a crisis.”