The Pill Makes Women Vote For Democrats

Since 1980, women have voted more for Democrats than Republicans. The gender gap started at 4% but hit 10–12% in the last three presidential elections (Pew Research Center, 2020). Why? Because in 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in Eisenstadt v. Baird that unmarried people could access contraceptives, same as married couples, building on Griswold v. Connecticut (Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438, 1972; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 1965). After 1972, women across the U.S. started taking birth control pills.

Birth control pills have estrogen and progestin, which mess with cortisol levels and suppress the fight-or-flight response (Kirschbaum et al., 1999). This changes how women see the world. It also affects who they’re attracted to. Women on the pill go for beta males—subservient or unattractive guys—instead of alpha males (Little et al., 2013). When they stop the pill, they often say they’re not attracted to their partner anymore and aren’t sexually satisfied (Roberts et al., 2014). By 1980, after 15 years of married women and 8 years of unmarried women on the pill, the election showed women leaning Democrat. Today, 55% of Democratic voters are women (Gallup, 2022).

If women ditched hormonal birth control, would the gender gap vanish? Does the Democratic Party only exist as it is because the pill screws with women’s stress response and makes them marry beta males who vote Democrat if their wives say so? Condoms, cervical diaphragms, and spermicidal gel don’t mess with cortisol, only hormonal methods like pills, rings, implants, and injections (Schreiber et al., 2006) but only condoms prevent STDs (CDC, 2023).

Hormonal birth control was used by 65% of U.S. women aged 15–49 in 2017–2019 (Daniels & Abma, 2020). Anxiety disorders, more common in women, rose after the pill’s introduction, with 20% of women reporting anxiety by 2019 (Terlizzi & Villarroel, 2020). Women are prescribed anti-anxiety meds like Valium and Xanax at twice the rate of men (Olfson et al., 2015). This started after 1972, when unmarried women got the pill, and by 1984, the Democratic gender gap hit 10% (Edison Research, 2020).

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2023). Contraception. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/contraception/index.htm
• Daniels, K., & Abma, J. C. (2020). Current Contraceptive Status Among Women Aged 15–49: United States, 2017–2019. NCHS Data Brief, No. 388. National Center for Health Statistics.
• Edison Research. (2020). National Election Pool Exit Polls, 1980–2020. Retrieved from https://www.edisonresearch.com/election-polling/
• Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972).
• Gallup. (2022). Party Affiliation by Gender, 2022. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/120839/women-likely-democrats-regardless-age.aspx
• Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965).
• Kirschbaum, C., Kudielka, B. M., Gaab, J., Schommer, N. C., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1999). Impact of gender, menstrual cycle phase, and oral contraceptives on the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 24(3), 195–207. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(98)00081-0
• Little, A. C., Burriss, R. P., Petrie, M., Jones, B. C., & Roberts, S. C. (2013). Oral contraceptive use in women changes preferences for male facial masculinity and is associated with partner facial masculinity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38(9), 1777–1785. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.02.014
• Olfson, M., King, M., & Schoenbaum, M. (2015). Benzodiazepine use in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(2), 136–142. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.1763
• Pew Research Center. (2020). Gender Gap in Voting, 1980–2020. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/08/13/the-gender-gap-in-presidential-elections/
• Roberts, S. C., Little, A. C., Burriss, R. P., Cobey, K. D., Klapilová, K., & Havlíček, J. (2014). Partner choice, relationship satisfaction, and oral contraception: The congruency hypothesis. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1497–1503. doi:10.1177/0956797614532295
• Schreiber, C. A., Whittington, S., Cen, L., & Maslankowski, L. (2006). Non-hormonal contraception: A review. Contraception, 73(4), 379–386. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2005.10.014
• Terlizzi, E. P., & Villarroel, M. A. (2020). Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Adults: United States, 2019. NCHS Data Brief, No. 378. National Center for Health Statistics.