White suburban women have swung sharply in favor of the GOP, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by the Wall Street Journal, found that this key voting demographic now favors the GOP by 15 percentage points.
This represents a massive 27 point swing since the previous poll in August.
“The new survey shows that white women living in suburban areas, who make up 20% of the electorate, now favor Republicans for Congress by 15 percentage points, moving 27 percentage points away from Democrats since The Journal’s August poll,” the WSJ reports. “It also suggests that the topic of abortion rights has faded in importance after Democrats saw energy on that issue this summer in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.”
The survey found that this voting block trusts Republicans over Democrats on issues of inflation and the economy — which the majority is citing as top issues as they head to the polls. According to the survey, 74 percent of suburban white women said the economy is heading in the wrong direction.
A 54 percent majority of the women polled said that they believe the country is already in a recession.
“Views of the economy among the group were substantially more negative than in The Journal’s most recent prior survey,” the pollsters report. “In August, 43% thought the economy had entered a recession, and 59% said the economy was headed in the wrong direction.”
The poll also found that 85 percent of these voters said they were “very motivated” to vote, which WSJ notes make them one of the highest motivated voting blocks.
“We’re talking about a collapse, if you will, in that group on the perceptions of the economy,” said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio who conducted the poll with Democratic pollster John Anzalone.
Ruth Anne Ramsey, 76, of Darien, Connecticut, told the pollsters that she is an independent — but leaning towards voting Republican over the economy.
“I think that generally I would trust Democrats on social issues but trust the Republicans more on monetary issues,” Ramsey said. “I think that the economy is number one in my mind. It’s costing people so much more money to live.”
