In a recent interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Democratic tactician James Carville lamented his party’s refusal to appeal to male voters:
If you listen to Democratic elites—NPR is my go-to place for that—the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?’
Not everyone appreciated the sentiment. In an op-ed for The Hill, Anna Greenberg responded that the party was right to focus on women. She wrote, “Carville may not like it, but the Democratic Party is the women’s party. Sixty percent of self-identified Democrats are women.”
It’s an important debate for Democrats to have, but Carville and Greenberg are talking past each other. This is not simply an argument about demographics. Democratic affiliation in the US has long had a lopsided gender makeup. Gallup polling shows that women have made up roughly 60 percent of the part…
