WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Research shows that women turn out to vote in greater numbers than men. Often their votes have a big impact on election outcomes, but what about suburban female voters—a population of people who received quite a bit of attention during the 2016 election? 


What You Need To Know

  • Female, suburban voters will make determinations about what education, health care and women's rights like including abortion

  • Female suburban voters out vote rural, female voters and in many instances metropolitan women voters

  • Both parties will have to work just as hard to get female, suburban voters

Those who research, study and teach politics say that the female, suburban vote is going to be an important one to watch out for and shouldn't be taken for granted. That's because it'll be a defining vote that'll help determine the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

According to Politico, President Donald Trump had a narrow win over suburban voters. So far, polls are reflecting that surburban women are leaning toward Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Researchers believe the switch is largely due to neighborhoods becoming more diverse over the last few years. While rural-area voters have been leaning Republican over the last several decades, larger cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus have been increasingly voting for the Democratic candidate. Surburban areas have been remarkably well-divided over the last several elections. Barack Obama was the last Democratic nominee to win the suruban vote in 2008. 

When it comes to suburban areas, Trump and Biden's campaign have been trying to garner the votes of women, who have historically out-voted the number of men in each election since 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. In the 2016 election, 63 percent of voters were women. 

A little more than 40,000 people live in Franklin County’s quiet suburb of Westerville, and within those boundary lines, you’ll find plenty of female, suburban voters. Otterbein University Associate Professor of Political Science La Trice Washington said they're women who are educated, make fairly high incomes and are up to speed on current happenings.

“You're talking about being very informed traditionally, very engaged and really living their lives with an expectation that they get to make certain determinations about what that's going to look like."

That includes making decisions about things like abortion, education and health care. Knowing this, Washington says these voters are not about to relinquish their power.

So just how important are their votes?

“Female suburban voters outvote rural female voters and in many instances metropolitan, more densely populated—women who live in more densely populated areas.”

And that's why these votes are critical to both candidates.

“President Trump has been struggling to get the suburbanite vote. Even the suburbanite female vote, primarily because of their level of education, their level of income and the ability to discern or differentiate kind of what real fake news is.”