changing lanes
White suburban women have 'significantly shifted' support from Dems to GOP, poll finds
White suburban women have "significantly shifted" their support from Democrats to the GOP in the remaining days of the 2022 midterm elections thanks to "rising concerns over the economy and inflation," The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, according to its latest poll.
The Journal's findings indicate that white suburban women, a key voting bloc that helped Democrats take the House in 2018, "now favor Republicans for Congress by 15 percentage points, moving 27 percentage points away from Democrats since the Journal's August poll." Further, the Journal notes, the data suggests voters are less fired up about abortion rights than they were back in June, when the Supreme Court first overturned Roe v. Wade (1973).
In regards to the economy, white suburban women don't appear too optimistic: per the poll, 54 percent believe the U.S. is already in a recession, while 74 percent believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction, the Journal reports. Such perceptions are also "substantially" worse than those of the Journal's most recent prior survey.
Rising prices were top of mind, as well, with 34 percent of the group citing the issue as their number one priority this election cycle.
"It's absolutely true that these women have shifted their gaze more on the economy than abortion," Democratic pollster Molly Murphy told the Journal. Reproductive rights are still a concern, but "they think we're in a recession. A majority are feeling financial strain in this economy."
The Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters by phone and text between Oct. 22-26. The smaller sample of white surburban women has a margin of error of +/- 5.7 percentage points "or 8 percentage points on some of the policy questions."