How unmarried women are turning into critical voters who could give Democrats the edge for years

America is more single than ever before, and unmarried college-educated women are quickly becoming the dominant voting bloc in U.S. politics. 

Educated women and voters of color were primarily responsible for turning the ‘red wave’ into a red trickle in the 2022 midterm elections in the wake of the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade which enshrined a federal right to abortion.  

‘It’s like waking up a sleeping giant,’ Shah said of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade. ‘The Democrats spoke directly to [unmarried women]. They said the Republicans are trying to take away your autonomy.’  

In 2022, according to CNN exit polls, unmarried women voted for Democratic House candidates more than two-to-one – 68 to 31 percent. Sixty percent of voters said they were currently married, per the National Election Pool network consortium (NEP) exit poll. 

Marital status was a defining factor for men too, but by much smaller margins – while…