ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300028
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
ARE WOMEN voters nincompoops? How dare anyone even suggest it.
Research by Scott Keeter, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, suggests a gender gap in knowledge about national political issues - with women sometimes falling into the clueless category.
Blacks more than whites, and younger people more than older people, are also more likely to be less informed or uninformed or misinformed about national politics, the research indicates. But it's the alleged knowledge gap between men and women that is particularly intriguing in this presidential election year - since it's been widely reported that soccer moms will determine the outcome.
Research shows that well-informed citizens are more likely to cast ballots based on their views of important issues of the day and candidates' positions on these. Issues matter less to the ill-informed who may vote based on - duh - a candidate's personality, style, haircut, bumper sticker, whatever.
But before anyone concludes that suffrage should be repealed, consider this: Keeter's research (captured in a new book, ``What Americans Know about Politics and Why it Matters,'' co-authored by Michael Delli Carpini of Columbia University) found no knowledge gap between men and women concerning local political matters. That is to say, women are savvy about political issues closer to home. Public schools being a prime example. Maybe the difference has to do, in part, with political interest and perspective.
Women, for example, tend to be more interested in and knowledgeable about government programs that assist the poor and the elderly and the environment, in contrast with men who are more interested in levels of taxation.
Let men call women dingbats if they don't know who Boutros Boutros-Ghali is. (In a 1994 survey, only 13 percent of Americans knew.) Let men snicker if women are more likely to know the name of Bill Clinton's cat than his secretary of defense.
Perhaps some women have been too busy being soccer moms - and trying to break through glass ceilings in the workplace, and being caregivers for elderly parents, among other responsibilities - to pay strict attention to every detail on the national political scene. So what? A presidential election isn't a game of Trivial Pursuit.
If soccer moms have convinced national candidates they need to address tangible issues that most directly affect citizens' lives, their families and their children, democracy will not suffer.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB