Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections 2026 | Gender Gap, Party Preferences & Key Statistics

Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections show women turning out at higher rates than men (66.9% versus 63.7% in 2024) and backing Democratic House candidates 58% to 40% in the 2026 midterms, according to preliminary exit polls. Men split 49% to 49%, which leaves a 9-point gap in Democratic vote share and an 18-point gap in margin.

Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections 2026 – Introduction

Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections shaped the 2026 midterms from the first exit poll to the final House call. Women made up 53% of voters on November 3, and they chose Democratic House candidates by 58% to 40%. Men split 49% to 49%. That gives Democrats an 18-point margin among women and no margin among men. NBC News projected a Democratic House majority. Women also set candidate records for the House and for governor.

This report tracks women’s voting patterns in US elections across turnout, party choice, race, age, and candidacy. It draws on Census Bureau data, research from Rutgers, Tufts, and UC Santa Barbara, and the Pew Research Center. The 2026 exit poll figures are preliminary as of November 4, 2026, and pollsters will adjust them as final counts arrive. Where a figure comes from a presidential race, the report says so, because House ballots and White House ballots draw different crowds.

Interesting Facts: Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections 2026

Democratic Share of the 2026 House Vote (each █ = 2 pts)
Women 18-29  ██████████████████████████████████████▌ 77%
Men 18-29    ████████████████████████████████▌ 65%
All women    █████████████████████████████ 58%
All men      ████████████████████████▌ 49%

Source: NBC News 2026 National Exit Poll (preliminary); Tufts University CIRCLE; Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP).

Three numbers anchor this report. Women cast 53% of ballots, 7 points above men’s 46%. Their 58% Democratic vote sits 9 points above the 49% among men. Women ages 18 to 29 reached 77%, and young Black women reached 96%, the highest figure in the table.

The candidate numbers tell a different story. Women filed 590 House bids and 85 gubernatorial bids, and both are records. Yet women hold only 28% of seats in Congress. Women outvote men at the polls, and the ballot still lists far more men than women.

Women’s Voting Patterns by Race in the 2026 Midterm Elections

Democratic Share of the 2026 House Vote by Race and Gender (each █ = 2 pts)
Black women   ██████████████████████████████████████████████ 92%
Black men     ██████████████████████████████████████████▌ 85%
Latina women  █████████████████████████████████ 66%
Latino men    ████████████████████████████ 56%
White women   █████████████████████████▌ 51%
White men     █████████████████████▌ 43%

Source: NBC News 2026 National Exit Poll (preliminary, November 4, 2026).

White women sat closest to the center. They made up 38% of voters and chose Democrats 51% to 47%, a 4-point margin. White men made up 34% and chose Republicans 55% to 43%, a 12-point margin. That creates an 8-point gender gap among white voters in Democratic vote share.

Black women backed Democrats at 92%, and Black men at 85%. Latina women gave Democrats 66%, while Latino men gave them 56%, a 10-point gap. Every race group shows women leaning further toward Democrats than men. Black women and Latina women each made up 5% of voters.

Women Voters Party Preferences 2026: Democratic, Republican and Independent Women

Democratic Share of the 2026 House Vote by Party ID and Gender (each █ = 2 pts)
Democratic women   █████████████████████████████████████████████████ 98%
Democratic men     ████████████████████████████████████████████████▌ 97%
Independent women  ██████████████████████████████▌ 61%
Independent men    ██████████████████████████ 52%
Republican men     ████ 8%
Republican women   ██ 4%

Source: NBC News 2026 National Exit Poll (preliminary); party identification excludes leaners.

Democratic women made up 22% of voters and Republican women 17%, a 5-point edge. Among men, Republicans led 16% to 12%. Party loyalty ran high on every side. Democratic women voted 98% Democratic, and Republican women voted 95% Republican. Republican women crossed over at 4%, while Republican men crossed over at 8%. Because loyalty is near total, the 53% share of women in the electorate matters more than any late conversion.

Independents carry the gap. Independent and other women chose Democrats 61% to 35%. Independent and other men chose Democrats 52% to 43%. That 9-point difference matches the overall gender gap. Independent men also outnumber independent women, 18% to 14%, so the swing voters who tilt House races lean slightly more male.

Young Women Voters 2026: Age and the Gender Gap in the Midterm Vote

Democratic Vote Among Voters Under 30 (each █ = 2 pts)
Black women, 2026 House  ████████████████████████████████████████████████ 96%
Women, 2026 House        ██████████████████████████████████████▌ 77%
Men, 2026 House          ████████████████████████████████▌ 65%
Women, 2024 Harris       ███████████████████████████████▌ 63%
Men, 2024 Harris         ███████████████████████ 46%

Source: Tufts University CIRCLE, 2026 Youth Vote Choice Analysis; University of California, Santa Barbara, 2026.

Young women backed Democratic House candidates at 77%, and young men at 65%. That is a 12-point gap. In 2024, the gap between young women and young men in Harris support was 17 points, at 63% and 46%. The gap narrowed because young men moved 19 points toward Democrats, while young women moved 14 points. Compare with care, since one contest is a House race and the other is a presidential race.

Young Black women voted Democratic at 96%, the highest figure for any youth group CIRCLE reported. The Associated Press voter poll found that only about 1 in 10 voters in 2026 were under 30, which limits how far youth shifts move national totals. Most young voters said they cast ballots to oppose President Trump. The shift among young men matters as much as the loyalty of young women.

Women’s Voter Turnout Statistics 2026: Women vs Men Turnout Rates Since 1964

Women's Turnout Lead Over Men in Presidential Elections (each █ = 0.5 pts)
1964 US           ◄◄◄◄◄◄◄◄◄◄ -5.0
1980 US           0.0
2016 US          ████████ +4.0
2024 US          ██████ +3.2
2024 Texas       ████████ +4.0
2024 Washington  ████████████ +6.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement (1964-2024); Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.

Women cast about 91.3 million votes in 2024, and men cast about 82.6 million, a difference near 8.7 million. Women have outvoted men in every presidential election since 1984. In 1964, men led by 5 points. In 1980, the two groups tied at 64%. The national gap in 2024 was 3.2 points, with overall turnout at 65.3%.

State gaps run wider. Texas shows a 4-point lead for women, and Washington shows 6 points. Men outvoted women in only four states: Ohio, South Carolina, Idaho, and Maine. The Census Bureau has not yet published 2026 turnout by sex. The exit poll figure of 53% women points to the same pattern. Midterm turnout reached 46.1% in 2022, well below the 65.3% turnout of the 2024 presidential race. Women have outvoted men for decades, which gives their preferences extra weight in close House districts.

Women’s Voting Patterns 2024 vs 2026: How the Gender Gap Shifted

Republican Share of the Vote by Gender (each █ = 2 pts)
Men, 2024 President    ███████████████████████████▌ 55%
Men, 2026 House        ████████████████████████▌ 49%
Women, 2024 President  ███████████████████████ 46%
Women, 2026 House      ████████████████████ 40%

Source: Pew Research Center, validated voter analysis of the 2024 election; NBC News 2026 National Exit Poll (preliminary).

Both sexes moved about 6 points away from Republicans. Women’s Republican vote fell from 46% to 40%, and men’s fell from 55% to 49%. The gender gap held at 9 points. That pattern describes a tide that moved everyone, not a widening split between men and women. Democratic margins grew, but the distance between the sexes stayed put. Democrats gained among both women and men, so the 2026 result reads as a broad swing toward the party.

White women flipped from R+4 to D+4, an 8-point swing. White men moved from R+20 to R+12, also 8 points. Black women’s Republican vote slipped 4 points, and Black men’s slipped 8 points. Pew uses validated voters and the exit poll uses election-day interviews, so treat direction as the finding and decimals as rough.

2026 Midterm Polls vs Exit Polls: What Women Voters Told Pollsters

Democratic Margin Among Women (each █ = 1 pts)
Pew pre-election  ██████████████ D+14
Exit poll         ██████████████████ D+18

Source: Pew Research Center, registered voter survey, September 28 to October 4, 2026; NBC News 2026 National Exit Poll (preliminary).

Pew found women favoring Democrats 45% to 31%, a 14-point margin. The exit poll found 58% to 40%, an 18-point margin. Pew left 24% of women in neither column because many respondents were undecided or chose another option. The exit poll counts only people who voted, so both party totals rise.

Men matched in both sources. Pew showed men at 42% each, and the exit poll showed 49% each. The even split held, and the extra 7 points for each party came from undecided men making a choice. Pollsters read that as a sign that the pre-election gender gap was real. Final weights could still shift these numbers, so check back as pollsters publish updated tables.

Women Candidates and Women in Congress 2026: Record House and Governor Bids

Women Running for US House (each █ = 10 pts)
Democratic women, 2024         ██████████████████████████████ 301
Democratic women, 2026         ████████████████████████████████████████ 402
Republican women, 2022 record  ██████████████████████████ 261
Republican women, 2026         ██████████████████▌ 188

Source: Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), 2026 candidate data.

The 590 women who filed for the House set a record. Democratic women supplied 402 of them, also a record. Republican women filed 188, well below their 261 record. Women make up 27% of all House candidates, 33.6% of Democratic candidates, and 19.1% of Republican candidates. Governor bids hit 85, with 51 Democrats and 34 Republicans.

Representation lags. Women hold about 28% of seats in Congress. They hold 42% of congressional Democratic seats and 15% of congressional Republican seats. Women also won 26 gubernatorial nominations from 36 contests. CAWP has not yet published final counts of women winners from the 2026 midterms.

Women’s Political Ambition 2026: Why Fewer Women Than Men Consider Running

Share Who Have Thought About Running for Office, Men Minus Women (each █ = 1 pts)
Ages 18-34  ███████████████ 15 pts
Ages 35-49  █████████████████████ 21 pts
Ages 50-64  ███████████████████ 19 pts
Ages 65+    █████████ 9 pts

Source: Change Research national survey of 2,006 registered voters, July 13-17, 2026.

Men outpace women at every age. The gap peaks at 21 points among voters ages 35 to 49, where 39% of men and 18% of women have thought about running. It narrows to 9 points among voters 65 and older. Among voters ages 18 to 34, 24% of women and 39% of men have considered a run, a 15-point gap.

Self-belief shows a similar split. Among voters ages 35 to 49, only 28% of women call themselves qualified to run, compared with 50% of men. Among voters 18 to 34, the gap shrinks to 7 points, at 31% and 38%. This helps explain why record candidate counts still leave women near 27% of House candidates.

Women’s Voting Patterns in US Elections 2026 – FAQs

How Did Women Vote in the 2026 Midterm Elections?

Women voted 58% Democratic and 40% Republican in House races, according to the preliminary NBC News exit poll. They made up 53% of voters. Men split 49% to 49%.

What Is the Gender Gap in the 2026 US Elections?

The gender gap is the difference between men and women in support for one party. In 2026 it measures 9 points in Democratic vote share (58% versus 49%) and 18 points in margin.

Do Women Vote More Than Men in US Elections in 2026?

Women have outvoted men in every presidential election since 1984. In 2024, 66.9% of women voted, compared with 63.7% of men. Census data for 2026 turnout by sex is not out yet.

Which Party Do Most Women Support in 2026?

A majority of women backed Democrats in the 2026 House vote at 58%. Democratic women made up 22% of all voters, and Republican women made up 17%.

How Did Black and Latina Women Vote in the 2026 Midterms?

Black women voted 92% Democratic, and Latina women voted 66% Democratic. Both groups made up 5% of voters. Latina women voted 10 points more Democratic than Latino men.

How Did Young Women Vote in 2026?

Women ages 18 to 29 voted 77% Democratic for House, and young men voted 65%. Young Black women voted 96% Democratic, according to Tufts University CIRCLE.

How Many Women Ran for Office in 2026?

CAWP counts 590 women running for the House, 85 for governor, and 63 for the Senate. House and governor totals are records.

Did Women Decide the 2026 Midterm Elections?

Women cast 53% of ballots and favored Democrats by 18 points. Men split evenly. Weighting each group by its share of voters, women’s margin adds about 9.5 points to the national Democratic margin, and men add 0. That is a simple calculation from preliminary data.

How Do White Women Vote in US Elections in 2026?

White women made up 38% of 2026 voters and chose Democrats 51% to 47%. In 2024, Pew found white women favored Trump by 4 points. White women moved about 8 points toward Democrats between the two elections.

How Did Women Vote in the 2024 Presidential Election?

Pew found 46% of women voted for Trump and 55% of men did. Women favored Harris by 7 points. Exit polls measured the gender gap at 10 points, and the two methods differ by design.

What Share of Congress Is Female in 2026?

Women hold about 28% of seats in Congress. They make up 42% of congressional Democrats and 15% of congressional Republicans.

Why Do Women Vote Differently From Men in 2026?

Researchers point to views of the president, abortion rights, and the economy. An Associated Press voter poll named the economy and the state of democracy as top concerns in 2026.

Where Can I Find Official Women’s Voting Data for 2026?

The Census Bureau publishes turnout by sex, Rutgers CAWP tracks candidates and officeholders, and the Pew Research Center publishes validated voter studies.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.