Poll: Voters Divided Along Marital Lines

Oct. 22, 2004-- -- The gender gap just might be passé. This year's electorate currently is divided more along marital lines than gender lines, a contrast from the last presidential election.

Men support George W. Bush over John Kerry by an eight-point margin in the latest ABC News tracking poll, while women are split between the candidates. In 2000 there was a bigger difference between the sexes: Bush +11 among men, Al Gore +11 among women.

Polls are not predictive and the final breakdown remains to be seen. But as of now, marital status tells more of a story. Married voters -- men and women -- are strong Bush groups: Married women support him by 19 points, 56 percent-37 percent, and married men by 22 points, 59 percent-37 percent. Kerry, though, is favored by six in 10 single men and women alike.

One difficulty for Kerry is that there are a lot more married voters than single ones. More than a third of likely voters, 37 percent, are single, compared with 63 percent married. That's very similar to the turnout in 2000, as measured in the national exit poll.

Overall, this ABC News tracking poll, based on interviews Tuesday through Thursday, finds Bush with 50 percent support among likely voters, Kerry with 46 percent and 1 percent for Ralph Nader. That's about where it's been since Saturday.

What's different from 2000 is Bush's bigger advantage among married women, and his bigger shortfall among single men. Bush in 2000 ran about evenly with Gore among married women and single men alike. Now Bush is winning married women, but losing single men.

Married women and single men -- two more swingable groups -- have indeed been the most changeable. Candidate support among married men (a core Bush group) and single women (a core Kerry group) has been largely consistent since tracking began Oct. 1. By contrast, Bush is doing a bit better now with married women, and Kerry with single men.

Age is a significant factor here. Single men and women are disproportionately young, and, as per yesterday's ABC News tracking poll analysis, Kerry does best with young voters -- one of the groups whose turnout may prove critical.

It follows that among single voters, Kerry does best with young singles; he leads but less widely among older single women and older single men divide about evenly. (Singles include people who have never been married, as well as those who are separated, divorced or widowed.) Bush's support is even among married men across age, and a bit better among younger married women than older ones.

Issue priorities in this election reflect the difference in vote preference between married and single voters. Married voters are more likely to cite terrorism as the most important issue in their vote --