GENDER: WHOSE GAP IS IT, ANYWAY?

THE GENDER SPLIT IN POLITICS, ONE MIGHT ARGUE, IS THE RESULT OF A MALE FANTASY TRIP

The expanding gender gap, which in some surveys situates women as much as 20 percentage points to the left of men, is being treated by both parties these days like some mysterious female disorder. Republicans are fretting over that ancient Freudian riddle--What do women want?--while aiming programs at them called "A Seat at the Table" (haven't they noticed many women are sitting there already?), or designing cards with "Twelve Important Messages for Women" that can "fit in a man's pocket and a woman's purse," in the words of one G.O.P. operative. Democrats too have launched a guerrilla operation to snag women...

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