This article and the accompanying chart are provided by IntellectualCapital.com which is a service mark of A2S2 Digital Projects, Inc. The Year of the Woman Voter by Ellen R. Malcolm (Ellen Malcolm is President of EMILY's List.) The following article and the accompanying chart of voters by year and sex, by Ellen Malcolm, President of EMILY'S List, demonstrates that in 1992 women voters turned out in record numbers. This was "The Year of the Women". Women voters, dismayed by the all-male panel of senators at the Thomas nomination hearings went to the polls the next year in record numbers.
	In 1992 more than 60 million women voted, helping to elect 24 new women to the House and five to the Senate, the largest increase in history. When 16 million of these women voters chose to stay home on election day 1994, Republicans gained control of the Congress for the first time in 40 years. Now these same women voters are poised to play a decisive role in the outcome of both the presidential and congressional contests. Gauging the gender gap Since March EMILY's List has been conducting a national tracking poll of women voters every six weeks called the Women's Monitor. The October poll found that women support President Clinton by a margin of 56 to 35 percent. Among men, President Clinton has a 6-point lead over Bob Dole. Drop-off women voters, women who stayed at home in 1994, have emerged as both overwhelmingly Democratic and motivated to vote, creating a new element in the 1996 elections. EMILY's List, in conjunction with state Democratic parties, has initiated the WOMEN VOTE! Project, a multi-year program that will identify contact and mobilize these drop-off women voters The Women's Monitor indicates that races for Congress are too close to call. However, it is clear that women voters could create victory for Democrats in the House. The Monitor shows that women support generic Democratic congressional candidates 44 to 35 percent over Republicans, while men support Republican candidates by a 4-point margin. It looks like the 105th Congress will see the return of all the Democratic women incumbents running for reelection. While not matching the increases of 1992, we can expect the second largest increase in the number of women ever elected to Congress. We think we will see a sixth and maybe a seventh woman elected to the Senate and at least one new Democratic woman governor. Contract on Newt If 1992 were the Year of the Woman and 1994 the Year of the Angry White Male; 1996 will surely be remembered as the Year of the Woman Voter. Issues that are important to women, like Medicare, education, the environment and a renewed commitment to protect the right to choose, have been at the forefront of the political discussion this year. The Women's Monitor shows women voters feel confident that a Democratic-led government will do a better job of dealing with these issues. Just over a year ago, women voters began to move away from Newt Gingrich and the GOP House as they shut down the government and tried to impose deep cuts in education. On election day, women will turn their disagreement into a political reality creating Democratic victories for men and women candidates up and down the ticket.

VOTER TURNOUT IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

	Presidential Election Year	% of Voting Age Population Who Reported Voting	Number Who Reported Voting
	1992 1988 1984 1980 1976 1972 1968 1964	Women Men 62.3 % 60.2% 58.3% 56.4% 60.8% 59.0% 59.4% 59.1% 58.8% 59.6% 62.0% 64.1% 66.0% 69.8% 67.0% 71.9%	Women Men 60.6 million 53.3 million 54.5 million 47.7 million 54.5 million 47.4 million 49.3 million 43.8 million 45.6 million 41.1 million 44.9 million 40.9 million 41.0 million 38.0 million 39.2 million 37.5 million

VOTER TURNOUT IN NONPRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

	Non-Presidential Election Year	% of Voting Age Population Who Reported Voting	Number Who Reported Voting
	1994 1990 1986 1982 1978 1974 1970 1966	Women Men 44.9 % 44.4% 45.4% 44.6% 46.1% 45.8% 48.4% 48.7% 45.3% 46.6% 43.4% 46.2% 52.7% 56.8% 53.0% 58.2%	Women Men 44.6 million 40.4 million 43.3 million 38.7 million 42.2million 37.7million 42.3 million 38.0 million 36.3 million 33.3 million 32.5 million 30.7 million 33.8 million 32.0 million 31.8 million 30.7 million

Source: Center For the American Women and Politics