The women's vote may well determine the outcome of the presidential race in 2012. Today, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) launched  Women's Vote Watch 2012, a website that will provide data on the gender gap and the women's vote from now until Election Day. The site will track gender differences in key national and battleground state polls on the presidential race conducted since the two parties' conventions.

Just a reminder: 

The gender gap is the difference in the percentage of women and men who support a given candidate, generally the leading or winning candidate. It is the gap between the genders not within a gender. The gender gap is different from the frequently reported measure of the women's vote, which is the percentage point advantage that one candidate has over the other among women voters - that is, the difference in support for the major party candidates among women voters only. Both measures are available on CAWP's Women's Vote Watch 2012 site.

CAWP Fact Sheets on Gender and Voting

For more information, check out CAWP's fact sheets on the gender gap and gender differences in voter turnout over time.     

Women Surpass House, Senate Candidate Records in 2012 

With all candidates now chosen for the November 6th elections, the number of women running for Congress has surged past previous records. Eighteen women (12D, 6R) will be candidates for the U.S. Senate, while 163 women (116D, 47R) are on the ballot for the U.S. House of Representatives. The previous records were 14 Senate candidates (9D, 5R) in 2010 and 141 House candidates (88D, 53R) in 2004. See CAWP's press release for more detailed information.   

Take a moment to visit Election Watch 2012, CAWP's home for up-to-date information about women candidates in 2012.     

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