Black Politics, as If Black Women Mattered

By now we are all well-versed with the significance of the women’s vote, defined as the number of women who vote in an election and likewise the salience of the gender gap defined as the difference between men and women’s support of candidates, usually prompting one candidate to edge ahead as a frontrunner. ¹ These two data points captured the attention of pundits and analysts in 2012. Though both phenomena—the women’s vote and the gender gap—took center stage, most analyses of the 2012 election failed to note the significance of Black women in fueling both. Only through more in-depth analysis do we learn that the women’s vote and the gender gap alike tell a more complex story when analyzed through the lens of race.