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The advice to Republicans remains: Nominate more women
By Kent R. Kroeger (January 12, 2019)
A year ago I wrote an article on the dearth of female Republicans in national elected office, particularly the U.S. House. [The original article is here.]
The article’s gist was that if Republicans don’t nominate more women against incumbent Democrats, the party’s decline (starting in the 2018 midterms) will be precipitous.
The GOP lost 40 U.S. House seats in 2018 (one seat in North Carolina is still to be determined).
In the 115th Congress, there were 21 Republican women. In the new 116th Congress there are only 13. In comparison, the number of Democratic women in the House went from 64 to 89.
If trends continue, half of all U.S. House members will be women by 2032 and not one will be a Republican.
Of course, that will never happen, right? The Republicans will adjust, right?
Do Republicans realize it is an empirical fact that women are widely viewed as more honest, empathetic and trustworthy (see Figure 1)? Do Republicans understand that, if those attributes become central to vote decisions in the future, their party is screwed?
Figure 1: Public opinion on gender differences in political leadership
