Contrary to what is quickly becoming the conventional wisdom, it appears that Hillary Clinton actually underperformed among women during the Democratic primaries:
One of the Democratic campaign’s great misperceptions has been that Clinton held an overwhelming advantage among women voters. But that isn’t the case. As expected, Clinton captured the over-65 vote, and Obama won over younger women. But women in the middle split almost evenly between the two. And while both Senators boasted historic candidacies, Obama’s seemed to resonate more deeply, translating into 70%, 80% and even 90% of the black vote in primary contests. No one expected Clinton to sweep 90% of Democratic women voters, but 60% wouldn’t have been an unreasonable accomplishment for the first woman to have a serious chance of winning the presidency. Instead, Clinton won just over a majority of women’s votes.
Which, of course, means that one of the Clinton loyalist’s most popular arguments for the reason she lost simply doesn’t hold water:
Clinton and her supporters have charged that sexism is responsible for her loss of the nomination. But it seems more likely that women themselves cost her the nod.
I’m sure, however, that the Clinton’s will continue looking for others to blame for their loss.
