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http://www.freep.com/news/locw ay/gender5e_20050805.htm Female voters desert Kilpatrick Men split between him and Hendrix August 5, 2005 BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI and KATHLEEN GRAY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS Gloria Paramore voted for Kwame Kilpatrick in 2001. She liked his youthful energy, his ideas, his legacy from a Detroit family of elected leaders. This year, the 73-year-old retired teacher who lives in the University District in northwest Detroit, says she'll vote for anybody but the incumbent mayor, saying she doesn't trust him. "Age doesn't have to be a barrier. Old or young ... he just didn't deliver," said Paramore, who voted for state Sen. Hansen Clarke in the primary and said she'll vote for former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix on Nov. 8. The votes of women are crucial in Detroit races, where female voters tend to turn out in larger proportions than men. Four years ago, Kilpatrick won the votes of 60% of Detroit women when he was picked, at age 31, as Detroit's youngest ever elected mayor. On Tuesday, Kilpatrick lost more than half the women who backed him in 2001, according to a Free Press/WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) poll of voters conducted by the Lansing-based EPIC/MRA polling firm. In Tuesday's primary, women preferred Hendrix over Kilpatrick 50% to 26%, the poll showed. Among men, the poll showed the race as a statistical dead heat. Women feel Kilpatrick has betrayed them, said Ed Sarpolus of EPIC/MRA. "They voted him four years ago, because of what he said he was going to do in neighborhoods, and for their kids and in the schools, and it didn't happen," Sarpolus said. "And they lost respect for him because of the integrity issue." In his speech on election night, Kilpatrick acknowledged that some Detroit voters are upset with his performance in office. "He'll be communicating with people, reaching out to people and indicating that the things that happened that made them angry, he learned from that and won't repeat that," campaign spokesman Bob Berg said. Women age 18 and older make up 55% of the city's population. Households headed solely by women outnumber households headed solely by men by about a 2-1 margin, according to census data. Sarpolus said about 60% of the city voters this November could be female, fueled partly by college-educated African-American women who have made a commitment to live in the city. Most of the time, women look more closely at economic issues as they're making their decisions about candidates. Kilpatrick's tenure as mayor -- complete with a projected budget shortfall of $350 million -- is leaving women worried about the future, said Debbie Walsh, president of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "It's a combination of things: a general continuing downturn of the economy in Detroit combined with women feeling potentially vulnerable," Walsh said. In his 2001 race, Kilpatrick successfully parlayed his youthful energy -- he grew up with the familiar swagger of rap and hip-hop in central Detroit -- with an outreach to older voters. The son of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and former Wayne County Commissioner Bernard Kilpatrick, he invoked an image of himself as every voter's grown-up grandson. But he is now being viewed as the mayor who likes to live large even as the city's economy is faltering. In his campaigning during the last 18 months, Hendrix has reached out to thousands of voters, many of them women at senior citizen centers and neighborhood home meetings. "Even if he's reaching out inadvertently, like to the senior citizen groups, that also matters to women voters," Walsh said. "Because they're being talked to." It's a move Kilpatrick would be wise to copy, Walsh said. Even as Hendrix decisively carried the female vote, his appeal was strong across several demographic groups, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. College-educated voters preferred Hendrix 2-1 over Kilpatrick, but Hendrix also carried voters without degrees. Among black voters, who make up about 85% of the city voters, the race was tighter, with Hendrix garnering 41% to 36% for Kilpatrick. Among voters older than 40, Hendrix was the clear favorite. Among white voters, who tend to be older, Hendrix won 80% to 9% for Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick gives Hendrix, 54, a run among voters younger than 40, whose age puts them closer to the mayor, who is 35. East-sider Leaurin Boyington, 21, said Tuesday that Kilpatrick needs more time to undo messes created by previous administrations. "I just believe that he needs another term," she said. Women are particularly shrewd in sizing up a candidate beyond their policy plans, said Craig Ruff of Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants. "They'll ask themselves, 'Is this a character I want in the front office?' " he said. "Women generally look at personal scandal, lifestyle and appearance and are much more willing to factor that into their decision on who to vote for." Contact PATRICIA MONTEMURRI at 313-223-4538 or montemurri@freepress.com Free Press data analyst Victoria Turk and staff writer M.L. Elrick contributed to this report. |
