Clinton Loses Women Supporters in NH
Courtesy: Wiki Commons
By Kimberly Wilborn 2/9/2016
Presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton has been known to secure several female votes. Yet she struggled to gain more female votes in the Granite State and at the end of the primary, Bernie Sanders won with an overall 60% to her 38.4%.
She won New Hampshire in 2008 with 46% of the women’s vote but this year ladies in New Hampshire did not seem quite as enthusiastic about the Clinton campaign. According to a CNN/WMUR poll before the primary, Clinton was behind Sanders by 11 percentage points among women with his 53% to her 42%.
Emily Smith, 19, who lives in Hampton, New Hampshire described her decision to change who she was supporting. She said, “I did start out this election supporting Hillary because I thought it’s time to have a woman president — we just took a huge leap and bound, electing someone who is an African-American, why can’t we have a woman?”
“But then Bernie ran for president and I loved his ideas. It’s outrageous that I’m going to be $80,000 in debt–It’s time for a political revolution, and it’s time to pay attention to the middle class because we’re diminishing.”
Sanders not only received the younger women’s votes in NH but votes from older generations as well. “Grandmas for Bernie” buttons were worn to support the Vermont senator.
Earlier this week, Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright spoke at a Hillary Clinton event shaming young female Bernie Sanders’ supporters. Steinem, a Clinton supporter and known feminist, accused young female supporters of chasing boys saying “When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie”. Ms. Albright also chimed in claiming that there was “special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” referring to women who do not vote for Clinton.
After the endorsements had caused an outcry amongst feminists across the nation, Ms. Steinem retracted her statement.
Despite the loss in women votes, though, Hillary stills seems to have the support of minorities. The research found from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll in South Carolina reveals that Clinton has more African-American supporters than Sanders by 57 percentage points.
Clinton is known for having support from the black and Latino community, and those two groups are said to decide the races in the upcoming primaries in South Carolina and Nevada.