Notre Dame Professor Christina Wolbrecht's “A Century of Votes for Women: American Elections Since Suffrage" was published today. It is the only complete source of information on how women have voted since suffrage through the present day. The research conducted by Wolbrecht and her co-author, Kevin Corder of Western Michigan University, dispels the illusion of the homogenous “woman voter,” showing how changing political, social and economic realities swayed votes and how assumptions about women as voters influenced politicians, the press and scholars.

“Women’s votes are powerful and sought after, and politicians’ efforts to appeal to women voters have helped highlight issues like equal pay and universal health care. However, the most important thing to take away from our research is that women voters — just like men voters — are not a uniform bloc. Different women have different identities and interests that shape their political engagement and choice of candidates,” Wolbrecht said. For example, it was African American women’s votes that ousted Roy Moore in the contentious 2017 Senate race in Alabama and white working-class women who helped boost Donald Trump into the White House in 2016.

You can read the full press release here. Prof. Wolbrecht is available for interviews. If you'd like to interview her, feel free to contact her directly at [email protected], or contact me. 

Best, 

Colleen 

Colleen Sharkey

Assistant Director, Media Relations

University of Notre Dame

(office) 574-631-9958

(cell) 574-999-0102

[email protected] 

*Please note, Notre Dame has an on-campus studio, so radio/TV interviews can easily be arranged.*