The Disempowerment of the Gender Gap: Soccer Moms and the 1996 Elections

Abstract

The 1996 elections were truly historic for women voters. These elections produced the largest gender gap ever in voting in a presidential contest, and, for the first time in history, feminist activists could legitimately claim that the votes of women elected the president of the United States. ... The focus on the soccer mom allowed both the media and the campaigns to appear to be responsive to the concerns of women voters while actually ignoring the vast majority of women.