Maybe it was his White House-ready demeanor (and hair), maybe it was his business chops, or maybe it was his missus (the lovely Ann) of 42 years. Whatever the reasons, Mitt Romney ran away with the women’s vote in Florida by a gigantic 24-point margin on his way to a 14-point rout over Newt Gingrich Tuesday night.
By 52% to 28%, women chose Romney over Gingrich, a massive gender gap that Gingrich could not make up, when women made up nearly half, 49%, of the overall voters. Among men, Gingrich lost to Romney by just five points.
Drilling into the details of the exit polls, women’s marital status had an impact on their votes for Romney. While he won among both married women and single women, he did four points better among married women. Ron Paul appeared to pick up those votes, while Gingrich did as well among both groups (28%).
Also, Romney also had double the support of Gingrich among voters who said abortion should always or sometimes be legal. Gingrich beat Romney only among people who said abortion should never be legal and who said the abortion issue was most important to them.
Another fun fact for ladies keeping track– Rep. Michele Bachmann beat Herman Cain by about 50 votes, even though Cain won the Florida straw poll there this fall.
