It seems to be a matter taken on faith that women support Christine O’Donnell. I’ve heard it said by pundits like Chris Matthews and several posters here. O’Donnell herself says she’s going after the support of “Hillary Democrats” even though O’Donnell opposes almost everything Hillary stands for. Of course the polling data gives a lie to the idea that women support O’Donnell.
O’Donnell Favorability
Men Favorable…33% Unfavorable…49% Not Sure…18%
Women Favorable…24% Unfavorable…52% Not Sure…24%
That makes O’Donnell’s net favorability with men -16 and -28 with women. Hmmm….for some reason women dislike her. Perhaps this kind of talk could be one reason?
O’Donnell, when asked by the moderator whether taxpayer-funded, single-sex military institutions were constitutional, said:
I think they’re definitely constitutional and I think they’re vital to the security of our country and to the defense of our country. By integrating women into particularly military institutes, it cripples the readiness of our defense. Schools like The Citadel train young men to confidently lead other young men into a battlefield where one of them will die. And when you have women in that situation, it creates a whole new set of dynamics which are distracting to training these men to kill or be killed. And these dynamics between men and women are what make the relationship between men and women beautiful. So I don’t think that we should try to desensitize men to the differences.
In response to a critique of sex discrimination by Hannah Olanoff of the National Organization for Women, O’Donnell replied, “It’s an honor to be a lady. That’s a beautiful part of womanhood is to be ladylike.” She insisted that West Point “has had to lower their standards … in order for men and women to compete.” By lowering standards, she added, “we have reduced the effectiveness of our military.”
She continued, “You will cripple the defense of our country if you lower the standards at all.”
O’Donnell further claimed that women have a special role in society, just not in military combat, citing the special role of mothers. “When you remove the role of the mother, the family is left to crumble,” she said, blaming even declining SAT scores on this alleged phenomenon.
According to Christine O’Donnell, women hurt our military and are also making America dumber. This could be the reason that O’Donnell’s net unfavorability with women is twice as high as with men.