Turns out that a new poll by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that men know more about the upcoming election than women. In fact, the NY Times reports that men were more likely than women to answer every question right on the quiz.

Well, the biggest gender gap was on the question asking which candidate supported moving American troops from Europe and South Korea to other places. (60% of the men correctly answered Bush, while only 43% of women knew the answer). Seems that the ladies also had double-digit gaps on questions about Social Security and taxes. Hmmmm...I wonder if our [mis]information could have anything to do with how ridiculously alienating electoral politics are these days?

Kate Kenski, a senior analyst that conducted the poll, believes that the difference is a result of reporting. She notes that: "Reporters' obsession with the horse race rather than the substance of politics is likely to be more of interest to men, who pay more attention to sports than women." Huh? So while I'll agree that election reporting is largely skewed, I'm not sure that I'm buying her sports-theory logic. I find it hard to believe that by cheering for TEAM KERRY I'd gain new insight into his too-hawkish foreign policy.

My advice: talk about issues that women care about (i.e. the stagnant economy, the growing gender wage gap, reproductive rights, declines in education, inabilities to access healthcare, etc).

OH. And check this out. A recent NY Times/CBS Poll revealed that when asked whether Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 29% of men said he was versus 47% of women. (sigh). Any thoughts on this disturbing fact?