There is a sharp generational divide between mothers and daughters and who they support in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Moms strongly support Hillary; voting age daughters strongly support Bernie.
Newswise covers an interesting angle in this gap from Krista Jenkins, professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University, author of Mothers, Daughters, and Political Socialization: Two Generations at an American Women's College.
“One thing that was obvious,” she says, “is that the older women
via Fivethirtyeight.com“It is not surprising that Hillary Clinton finds herself in this position as it pertains to the support of young woman in her campaign,” Jenkins says. “Young women today are more focused on the issues than on their gender identity,” she notes, “and are less convinced of gender’s importance--as it’s not part of their psyche or vocabulary having grown up in an age where there are strong female role models in positions of power and leadership.”
Unlike their mothers, Jenkins notes, many young women today have seen high-profile women in key power roles all of their lives. Symbolically, she notes, gender is not such a large part of young women's vocabulary nor part of their identity. “Young women are focusing more centrally on the issues and that is often their biggest draw to specific candidates,” she says.
There’s a sense among women who have been voting for many years and who carry a deep sense of history that Hillary Clinton’s campaign represents something that is ‘finally possible’ after decades of work, struggle and progress. But, among their daughter’s generation, there seems to be a sense that, if
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