Education and the Gender Voting Gap

Women in the United States have outpaced men in both voter participation and educational attainment in recent decades. Since education is closely tied to political participation, we consider these trends in tandem and assess how much of the gender gap in voting is attributable to differences in educational attainment, differential returns to education, or other, non-education-related elements. Using comprehensive educational data from Massachusetts students matched with voter records, the researchers estimate a Blinder–Oaxaca–Kitagawa decomposition to understand how these factors contribute to gender voting differentials.