The Big Sort : women

Spank Your Kids? You Likely Vote Republican.

Bill Bishop — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:11:00 GMT

While the rest of political journalism continues to parse the electorate by ways of life described by the U.S. census— Matt Bai gets up close and chummy with "white guys" in the Times over the weekend—we at The Big Sort will consider two measures that...(read more)

Where Are All The Good Men?

Bill Bishop — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:50:00 GMT

Political polling parses data according to broad demographic categories—by sex, age, education, race, religion. The polls have been run this way for years, which makes it easy to compare results from election to election. It doesn't matter that these...(read more)

Enough Already With Political Categories Like "White Women"

Bill Bishop — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:05:00 GMT

Let's get something straight. There is no "women's vote." Women vote, of course. But reporters write about the "voting bloc" of white women as if it has meaning. It doesn't. Elections aren't about demography. They are about ways of life. Marketing people...(read more)

If This Is a "Change" Election, Then What's Changed?

Bill Bishop — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:56:00 GMT

Let's consider what's not new in this election. There's a lot. The last five or six elections have been pushed along by trends that have been in place since the mid-1970s. Despite the extraordinary circumstances this year, the basic political contours...(read more)