How Men and Women Are Dividing on Politics

The gender divide in American politics is widening, according to an exclusive poll for Newsweek that found men are increasingly embracing a more conservative ideology while women are leaning towards a liberal one.

The poll, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek between March 23 and 24, showed that a majority of Americans—57 percent—have changed their political ideology in the past five years, with 23 percent of them becoming more conservative and 17 percent turning more liberal.

More men (26 percent) have become more conservative than women (19 percent), while slightly more women (18 percent) have become more liberal than men (17 percent). The poll is the result of interviews with 1,500 eligible voters in the country.

"It has always been the case that men, on average, vote more conservatively than women," Elizabeth Matthew, Visiting Fellow at Independent Women's Forum and a Young Voices contributor, told Newsweek.

"What seems to be changing is the size of the divide, and the shift toward favoring the GOP," she continued. "In a February 2024 NBC News poll, [Joe] Biden was leading by 10 points among women while [Donald] Trump was ahead by 22 points among men. In 1988, by contrast, both women and men favored the winning candidate, Republican George H.W. Bush; women favored him by 4 points and men by 12, yielding an 8-point gender gap."