apparently, at least according to one Red State diary by a John Hayward, published November 7th, 2013. Link
This was a long, Very Serious, examination of the reasons why the "conservatism" of the Tea Party doesn't resonate with single women, and what can be done about it. Opening statement (italics in original):
The Virginia governor’s race was yet another example of the massive voting gap in a huge demographic: single people, particularly single women. According to exit polls, Republican Ken Cuccinelli won handily on the “hard” issues facing Virginia voters, and won most other demographic slices, but Democrat Terry McAuliffe won big with single people, crushing Cuccinelli by nearly fifty points among single women.
Jaw-dropping quote for me below the single orange swirlyQ
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that anyone would think this in this country, much less say it aloud, but here it is:
How can conservatives adjust their strategy to appeal more strongly to the single female society? Well, one obvious approach would be restricting the vote to people who are married.
Now I'm not quite sure how that's supposed to appeal to single women. It seems to me that if you just go ahead and disenfranchise single women (or blacks, or Latinos, or poor people, or people who don't drive for whatever reason), well then, that solves your problem right there. No need to have policies or platforms that appeal to people who can't vote, right? So it's kind of illogical on its face. But it's also just mind-bogglingly bizarro as well.
A couple of quotes from the comments:
The goal of the GOP should be to resist urbanization, not just because of the voting trends, but because urban life leads to a lower standard of living.
So people who live in cities shouldn't vote either I guess?
Speaking as someone with a paid off mortgage I still oppose the idea of property owners being the cut point. Taxpayer is a perfectly good one. Best would be to first seize the vocabulary, change out 'entitlement' for 'public charity.' Then anyone who declares themselves destitute and in need of public charity would be a lot easier to drop from the voter rolls. They would have declared themselves incapable of maintaining themselves; why do they get to tell the rest of us how to run the country if they can't take care of themselves?
I knew about only allowing property owners to vote...
Now my little diary doesn't explore the author's myriad reasons why single women are the problem, but here's his opening generalization:
The single female demographic doesn’t get hung up on details. Another of the new liberal icons, Wendy Davis of Texas, couldn’t answer basic questions about the abortion legislation she opposed with a purportedly heroic filibuster. Now she’s claiming she is actually kinda sorta “pro life” when you think about it. This is true of all the emotional appeals directed at single female society – lack of knowledge is not only overshadowed by passionate conviction, it can be a point of pride.
I was mainly just impressed by how much Red State conservatives don't want people to vote, to the point where disenfranchisement is a Serious Discussion.
I can only conclude that it's because what Kos always says about our base, if our people vote WE WIN.
Thanks for listening. I was partly practicing block quotes and links. If I have overstepped the rules for linking to Mr Hayward's diary I stand properly chastised.
[Update] Wow, Rec List. Thanks everyone!