Suburban women proved to be a significant asset to Democrats in the 2018 and 2020 midterms, winning them control of the House, Senate, and presidency.
Republican Glenn Youngkin’s inroads with female voters helped him to become the first Republican to win a statewide election in Virginia since 2009. Exit polling shows that White women, in particular, pivoted back to Republicans in the commonwealth last month.
Republicans indicate they hope to employ Youngkin’s disciplined strategy of staying focused on kitchen table issues, such as the economy, crime, and education, to win over more female voters.
“When I talk to voters, they are concerned about inflation,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) stated during a news conference last week for her own Elevate PAC, which works to elect GOP women to the House. “They’re also concerned about their kids’ education.”
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Youngkin’s focus on those core issues, as well as crime, paid dividends on Election Day, especially in the closely watched suburbs. According to ABC News, Youngkin carried 53 percent to 47 percent of the suburban vote. President Biden won that same constituency in Virginia 53 percent to 45 percent in last year’s presidential election.
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According to exit polling from CBS News, White women who voted Republican in Virginia increased from 49 percent in 2020 to 57 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, White women who voted Democratic in Virginia decreased from 50 percent in 2020 to 43 percent in 2021. This shift is due to White women who have not received college degrees. The number of White women in Virginia without college degrees who voted Republican shot up 56 percent in 2020 to 74 percent in 2021. The number of White women who voted Democratic sank from 44 percent in 2020 to only 25 percent in 2021.
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Youngkin emphasized the economy, continuously talking about economic initiatives like doing away with the state’s grocery tax as the prices of goods and services rose across the country.
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“They were concerned about grocery prices, about inflation, and from all indications that are not going to go away,” said Amanda Iovino. She ran polling for Youngkin’s campaign, referring to female suburban voters.
“Cost of living, personal finances, those were the messages that really helped drive our support with suburban women and also minority voters,” she noted.
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