On Tuesday's Morning Joe, author Rebecca Traister discussed an article in the New York Times about her book on the single American woman and her inclination to vote with Bernie Sanders as opposed to Hillary Clinton.
The following excerpt was discussed on the show:
"Single women may not be looking for a feminist hero; they may just want their affordable college, higher wages, and paid sick days. ...The question, in this year of the single woman, is whether the first truly plausible female presidential candidate can recognize how much her constituency has changed and capitalize on these changes, or if she will get overtaken by this growing group of independent women voters responding to more optimistic promises."
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough brought up the 2008 election cycle when most women rallied around Hillary Clinton and her "great cause."
Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski asked, "Where are they all going," speaking about the women votes that supported her in 2008 but are not supporting her in 2016.
Traister responded, "They’re going in lots of places."
Traister went on to explain that young white women and single women seem to be going more towards Sanders because he is offering a more "aspirational, more imaginatively left vision of policy."
She speculated that since Clinton’s presentation of policy is more pragmatic and less optimistic, this is turning off women voters.
The New Hampshire Democratic Primary Exit Polls supported this. Unmarried women were 62 percent for Sanders, as opposed to 35 percent for Clinton. Married women had similar numbers with 56 percent for Sanders and 44 percent for Clinton.
Traister continued saying that there was an inconsistent part in this theory because in South Carolina, single and married women both voted in large amounts for Clinton, including African-American women. She also stated that it depends on voter turnout for the Democratic Party "because that could make a real difference in the general."
"What were the issues, though, that were bringing them to Bernie even if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination and these women then go to her? What happened?" Brzezinski asked.
Traister said that Bernie is promising things in simpler terms, such as free college and a higher minimum wage, which would interest these women. She also speculated that Sanders’ promises really appeal to those women that are entering the work force or entering colleges in greater numbers.
"Single women now, often untethered from marriage, need all kinds of different social policies to accommodate people as wage earners, and you know, moving into the work force," she said.