What do the exit polls say about gender and sexism?

I always read the exit polls by the mainstream media discussing how many white voters say that race is a factor?

We have read about the impact of racism, and Hillary said that sexism is often not reported on by the mainsteam media. Therefore, what I want to know is how many male voters say that gender is a factor? Of these male voters, how many would vote for McCain if Hillary was the nominee due to Hillary's gender.

Conversely, how many women would vote for neither McCain nor Obama because they are men?

The story on sexism is seriously underreported.

Hence, the effect of sexism is often cancelled out.


And no...no numbers to back that because I don't give a shit anymore. This conversation was over when Hillary lost Texas and forgot to quit.

As Obama is hurt by racism. Hillary has made a very powerful argument that non-college educated whites will not vote for a black a president. However, Hillary correctly pointed out today that the mainstream media often under-reports sexism or discrimination against gender.

Thus, it is annoying that the media never publishes exit poll results showing how many male voters take gender into account, which would tend to show sex discrimination, and of these voters, how many would vote for John McCain if the Democrats don't have a male nominee. Conversely, how many women voters believe gender is an important factor, and of these women, how many would vote for neither McCain nor Obama.

Finally, it would be interesting to see to what degree does the bigotry overlap or cancel out? For example, who would a registered Democrat who is an unapologetic chauvanist and womanizer, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, vote for? I think the issue of off-setting bigotry is not adequately analyzed or discussed.

There are many women who also feel that their role is not to lead.

Most people who are very sexist or racist are not going to admit it.

They just have to ask if it is a factor, which is the basis of all the polling data that Hillary uses against Obama.

My point is that while the Obama supporters always decry racism, I think the Hillary supporters due have a point that sexism is pervasive, and that Hillary may also be losing votes amoung men who say that gender is a factor in their choice of a candidate. Unfortunately, the only polling data that is published is that on race as a factor.

I think you will find that the exit polls include both a question as to whether gender is a factor and one as to whether race is a factor.

I agree that both candidates lose votes due to their demographics (and they may gain some as well). I just don't think these items are good measures of the extent of these effects in either direction.

No pollster with any brains would ask "are you a sexist/racist?" But that does not mean that a less direct question such as "is race/sex a factor" is free from social desirability bias. Many people--including many DUers, from many responses I have seen to various threads over the past year or so--would interpret the "right" answer to this question to be "no", i.e., that answering "yes" suggests some degree of sexism or racism, regardless of how one really feels or behaves. Further, very few people in the CNN exit surveys from any of the states have answered "yes" - usually 20% or fewer voters - and presumably some of those voters are appropriately viewing gender/race as an affirmative action factor, for example, that if they see two similarly qualified people, it is fair to give consideration to whether a candidate is in a group underrepresented in high office. But we know from other evidence that many more people do behave in ways that suggest these factors influence them.

There are too many people who feel like they've got to defend their vote.

... Hillary seems to actually benefit from gender discrimination more than she loses from it. 79% of voters who said gender was important voted for Hillary. 1 out 6 men said gender was important. 5 out of 23 women said gender was important and 84% of those women voted for Hillary. It seems like 71% of men who said gender was important voted for her as well (I had to do the math for that last number myself so I could be wrong).

Of course, that's not to say that gender was the overriding factor in those votes, but those are the only numbers we have to work with.

that voted on race voted for Clinton. That about sums it up.

Are handicapped? The reason I asked about the exit polls is that Hillary has recently claimed that she has suffered in this race due to sexism, which is the dominant factor in this primary fight. My question is that if this is true, does this mean that according to Hillary's logic, are both Democratic nominees flawed? Should Democrats have given even more weight to John Edwards due to concerns about electability?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24748508/

"Rather, in private conversations and in interviews, Mrs. Clinton has begun asserting that she believes sexism, rather than racism, has cast a shadow over the primary fight, a point some of her supporters have made for months. Advisers say that continuing her candidacy is partly a means to show her supporters — especially young women — that she is not a quitter and will not be pushed around."