She Votes: Women’s Voices at the Forefront March 2023
As the 2024 election comes into focus, Gender on the Ballot and the Benenson Strategy Group investigate whether women across the country are more interested in political issues and more motivated to get involved in politics at a local, state, or federal level.
The study reveals that women are engaged in politics, supportive of women elected officials, and tuned into conversations about hot-button issues such as reproductive rights and inflation. However, women are also burnt out, financially strained, and increasingly concerned about extremism in politics.
To learn more about this new research, check out our Gender on the Ballot website where you will find key takeaways, memo, and our press release.
The New Normal: Women, the Workplace, and Pandemic Politics March 2022
After almost two years of contending with Covid-19, women across the country increasingly believe that the pandemic is creating a new normal, according to an online survey released by Gender on the Ballot.
The survey reveals that women are economically stressed, struggling with mental health, and concerned about the state of the country, yet they are also galvanized in support of improving healthcare systems, electing women to public office, and seeing the first Black woman Supreme Court justice. Benenson Strategy Group conducted this survey on the opinions and sentiments of women voters, which dovetails with Gender on the Ballot’s polling on similar topics one year ago.
To learn more about this new research, check out our Gender on the Ballot website where you will find key takeaways, memo, and our press release.
She Votes: Women, the Workplace, and Pandemic Politics March 2021
Gender on the Ballot and the Benenson Strategy Group investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic has upended women’s lives, highlighted inequities in health care, education and the economy, underscoring the importance of having women in political office.
Read the memo here, the blog post here, and the press release here.
Stepping Up and Standing Out January 2020
Women of all ages and political affiliations — particularly millennials and women of color—have become more politically engaged since 2016, a trend that is likely to continue in the 2020 cycle.
Our new Gender on the Ballot research gives further insights into what motivates women and how they plan to participate this year.
In case you missed it, you can watch the full panel here.
Click to read the memo, the blog post, Axios coverage, and the press release.
Electability in 2020
Our new research shows that likely 2020 voters are hearing the media’s sexism – and largely ignoring it. An overwhelming majority of voters reject the idea that America isn’t ready to elect a female president. Voters may be looking for “electable” candidates – but not in the way the media defines electability.
Gender on the Ballot and the Benenson Strategy Group investigate what electability means to voters in our new poll.
Gender on the Ballot
Exciting News! The Barbara Lee Family Foundation and the Women & Politics Institute at American University, School of Public Affairs have teamed up for a new nonpartisan project: Gender on the Ballot.
She votes. she leads.
New poll from WPI and the Benenson Strategy Group (BSG) reveals what mattered to women in the 2018 midterm elections.
2018 Post Election Poll
Full Report
SPA Press Release
Policy Reports
The Trump Effect
The day after Donald Trump took the oath of office, hundreds of thousands of women traveled to Washington, DC, to demonstrate their opposition to the new president. This groundswell of activism almost immediately led to widespread reporting that Trump's victory was inspiring a large new crop of female candidates across the country. Is Donald Trump's ascension to the presidency really pushing women everywhere to throw their hats into the political ring? Is Donald Trump such a shock to the political system that he's able to spark the kind of political activism and ambition that previous political candidates and major political events simply could not? This report, based on a May 2017 national survey of "potential candidates" - college educated women and men who are employed full-time - begins to provide systematic answers to these questions.
Read the report
Sex, Bipartisanship, and Collaboration in the U.S. Congress
Despite growing bodies of research about party polarization, women's leadership, and legislative effectiveness, largely open questions still remained. Until now. Our comprehensive study of gender and cooperation on Capitol Hill is a first cut at assessing the conventional wisdom that women of both parties are more likely than their male co-partisans to be "problem solvers" - people who create a climate for passing legislation rather than serving partisan goals. But as we illustrate in this report, the results indicate only the faintest evidence for this argument, write Jennifer L. Lawless and Sean M. Theriault.
Read the report
Not a ‘Year of the Woman’...and 2036 Doesn’t Look So Good Either
The 2014 election saw some incredible firsts for women: Republican Joni Ernst was elected the first woman to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate; and Mia Love, a Republican from Utah, became the first black woman ever elected in the Republican Party to Congress. But when historians look back on the 2014 election, it will not be dubbed the "Year of the Woman," and the next several election cycles will likely fall short as well, write Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox.
Read the report