Age and Gender Voting Gaps

Voting rates have also historically varied according to gender. In every
presidential election since 1996, women have voted at higher rates
than men (Figure 5). Most recently in 2012, the spread was about 4
percentage points.

Since 1996, a gender voting rate gap has been consistently present
for most age groups, particularly young voters. In every election
in this section, young women between the ages of 18 through 29
voted at higher rates than young men of the same ages, reaching a
differential of about 8 percentage points in 2008.

In each election since 1996, women have voted
at higher rates than men for all age groups except in the oldest
age group.

For elderly Americans, a gender voting gap has operated in reverse,
with men 65-years-of-age and older voting at higher rates than women
in every election since 1996. At about 6.5 percentage points, this
differential was larger in 1996 than in the two most recent elections,
13
The 2008 differential was not statistically different from 1996, 2004, and 2012.
with elderly men voting at a higher rate than elderly women by about
3.7 percentage points in 2012, an indication that as a new cohort
ages into the 65-years-of-age and older category, the gender divide of
elderly men voting at higher rates an elderly women may soon be a
thing of the past.