wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

First, I didn't hear this episode, so I can't comment on it specifically. Of course, single and married women are as varied in their views as any other demographic, but I do think that each group has its own concerns, children being an obvious one for married women with kids. As an example, all of my single 30- and 40-something female friends, none of whom have have kids, were appalled (as most liberals were) by the Supreme Court's recent ruling limiting the use of race by school districts in Seattle. I was, too -- at first. But when I actually thought about it, it bothered me that individual kids' lives were affected by such an arbitrary way of redressing inequality in the schools (are names pulled out of hats?). Honestly, I don't think that most single, childless women (especially those beyond childbearing age) spend a lot of time thinking about what affects children, and my guess is that their views on issues that relate to children generally reflect this. I say this as a liberal single, childless 40-plus-year-old woman.

I am a 28-yr old, college and law school educated married woman. I recognize that there may be some truth to this Lake poll, but this segment really annoyed me. Why must people equate being married with being conservative, ultra-traditional, sheep-like, or lacking in feistiness, progressive values, or independent spirit? I feel this assumption is made about me often...sadly, by my liberal cohorts. On the contrary, I'm married and am as progressive as ever.

Also, are you kidding me about all of the comments about married women not worrying about things like health care, wages, pensions, etc.? It's so retro to think that when women get married, they automatically think they're going to be taken care of. We, married ladies, are just as concerned about these matters as are single people. And, we continue to feel the burden of taking care of ourselves and our families (as do our husbands) long after the wedding day.

You all aggree that having more single people is good for Democratic party. Did you ask yourself if it is good for the society in general ? Society has to reproduce itself. The best way to do it is through a traditional family. It looks like liberal politics create more people who need government to take care of them.

I'm married (27 yrs) - grew up as an extremely conservative Republican and now consider myself liberal Independent. Have always voted. These things changed me the moset: Living with a man who is capable of balanced & rational thought, a habit of reading good writing and attending good theater.

I most want campaign finance reform, a national health care plan, end to the war we started.

Why would there be more single women than single men? This point confuses me.

I am a childless woman in my 50's and became a "liberal" after my divorce. I know many others who have done the same. It seems society and conservative politics is so focused on family issues we are no longer represented. (This is evident in political speeches, for example, when the term "working families" is used rather than "working people.") Studies have shown that singles have less financial and emotional security than married, but these aren't recognized in conservative initiatives that seem to give tax, financial, and social benefits to those married or with children.

I take issue with one comment your guest made. While being married is a choice, being single is often not a choice. I have divorced friends who'd still like to be married, and single friends who are aching to be married.

I am a "single" woman -- 47 y/0, PhD, college professor. But I live with my woman partner (who used to be married, has 2 kids). In my cohort of academics a sudden rash of marriages as the biological clock ran down, plus ensuing birth announcements, housing purchases, and so forth, has also been accompanied by increasingly conservative lifestyles, if not politics. Almost uniformly these women have found that the income disparity within their relationships has resulted in a heavier burden of childcare falling on them. And like many of your callers have already suggested, a kind of insularity sets in, soi-disant "academic" marxists start worrying about their stock portfolios and jockeying for their kids to get into private schools, abandoning public schooling, public health, and issues of income equity...

I have always been liberal, before and after marriage (and before and after getting an MBA). My husband shares my political views and we are raising our kids to be bleeding heart liberals.

I think the only thing that has changed over the years is that as I am now in my 50's, I see more sides of the issues and while I still usually land on the liberal side of an issue, I better appreciate other viewpoints and tend to be more pragmatic.

I'm a middle-age single woman without children. Politicians are not interested in us because we don't carry any political weight. They don't care about alienating us, because we do not vote as a block. "Not being married" is not an issue that unites us.

Has the researcher taken into account the fact that peoples politics change as they get older, and as they have children they may get more cautious also in life and in political views. Can he really say that the dividing line is "marriage" if he is comparing a twenty something female with a forty something female, for example. I am 40, female and single and liberal but probably not as idealistic as I was in my twenties.

Also I object to his last comment that women make a choice to be single - in my experience this is not always so - we may be happy to be single at times but many of my single female friends are single not by a direct choice of "I do not want to get married" but that they have not found a person they want to spend the rest of their life with and the choice part is that they choose not to settle for less, just to "be married".

I think this conversation relates more to straight women. Lesbian women in relationships maintain liberal viewpoints because we still have so much to fight for.

I believe it was Jack Kemp who during the Regan Admin. said that the true test of a liberal is the first mortgage.

Briefly - I am a married woman- 20 years with 3 children. I was quite liberal as a young single woman and have become far more liberal as time has passed. I feel that social programs are vital to correct the injustices of the past and to enable brighter futures for individuals that my children will share their lives with. As the mother of boys I am deeply concerned about the future of war and the possibility that they will experience a draft. I have not had the experience of my friends switching political alliance over time, if anything we have become more resolved liberals.

There is one category that keeps not being mentioned: the single, "older" woman with no children, who has simply do NOT want to get married.

(The only single women that I hear mentioned on the show are not-yet-married "23 year olds who go to singles bars", widows, and single mothers! As usual, it seems everyone assumes all women WANT to be married and have children! It's simply not the case!)

I have seen this. I wonder if it's because you we still feel like we have to fight to take care of ourselves, but then when we get married, there is the perception that someone is taking care of us? She whole heartedly adopted her very nice, albeit conservative, husband's politics. Maybe it's more about men? Are the more gentlemanly men more politically conservative?

Maybe young republican women are simply more likely to get married. I am a recent college graduate and all of my republican girl friends married soon after college, and my fellow liberal girl friends are all single, but none of our political beliefs changed.

If this is the case why? Are liberal young women more independent?

I am single, and a 42 year old woman, and a democrat. Why? Because all my life I've seen Republicans place more value on patriarchs -- valuing married women over non-married women, being one of the consequences, for example. It seems to me that people become Republicans only once they've got something they want to cling to, such as money, property, a spouse... To me, being a Republican means one is selfish and insecure, with a determination towards reinforcing a sense of entitlement. That's not me: I know that it's all easy come, easy go in this country. To be a Democrat is to be a realist. To be a Republican is to believe in Santa Claus.

does having kids make you greedy? do you think you have to protect your children's interest by taking away from others?