英文:
Women are having a hard time making up their minds who to support in this White House race.
Opinion polls suggest 60% of the undecided voters in this election are women.
And pollsters believe that they may not make up their mind until they enter the polling booth.
The threat of terrorism is a major concern for women, but they come to different conclusions on which candidate would best keep them and their children safe.
Celinda Lake, an opinion pollster in Washington DC who carries out work for the Democrats, has a thumbnail sketch of that swing female voter.
"She's independent, working outside the home, not college educated, very worried about health care, committed to public schools and thinks the economy is in bad shape. She's suburban and only goes to church on holidays."
Traditionally women are more likely to vote Democrat in the presidential election - and a majority of women are supporting John Kerry.
But pollsters say Senator Kerry has underperformed with women voters.
Whereas Al Gore won the women's vote by 10 percentage points in 2000, Mr Kerry is on average ahead by between five and seven points - worrying for his strategists.
George Bush has more of the women's vote than Republicans usually enjoy.
His strategists put this down to the "security mom" factor - mothers with children concerned about terrorist attacks who perceive Mr Bush to be the leader who will best protect America.
中文:
美國女性選民在決定到底支持哪位總統(tǒng)候選人時傷透了腦筋。
民意測驗顯示,尚未做出抉擇的選民中有60%是女性。
民意測驗專家們認為她們可能只有走進投票站后才能打定主意。
恐怖主義威脅是女性選民最關(guān)心的一個議題,但是在哪位候選人能夠更好地保障她們自己和孩子們安全的問題上,她們得出了截然不同的結(jié)論。
華盛頓的民意測驗專家塞琳達·萊克為民主黨工作。她為立場搖擺不定的美國女性選民們勾勒了一幅速寫圖:
“她個性獨立,外出工作,沒上過大學,非常擔心衛(wèi)生保健問題。她絕對信任公立學校,認為美國經(jīng)濟正處于低迷狀態(tài)。她住在郊區(qū),只有假日才去教堂?!?BR> 按照傳統(tǒng),總統(tǒng)大選中女性選民投票支持民主黨的可能性更大一些,今年大多數(shù)女性選民支持約翰·克里。
但是民意調(diào)查專家說,(與以往相比)參議員克里在女性選民眼里表現(xiàn)欠佳。
2000年,阿爾·戈爾以10個百分點的優(yōu)勢贏得了女性的選票,而克里平均起來只五到七個百分點,他的智囊團為此感到擔心。
與共和黨通常贏得女性選民選票的狀況相比,喬治·布什贏得了更多女性選民的選票。
他的智囊團將這一結(jié)果歸因于“安全媽媽”因素——有孩子的母親們更加關(guān)注恐怖襲擊,她們感覺布什才是能夠更好地保護美國安全的領袖。
詞匯:
pollster: one that takes public-opinion surveys(民意調(diào)查者,民意測驗專家)
underperform: to perform not as well as (something else)(表現(xiàn)不佳)
Women are having a hard time making up their minds who to support in this White House race.
Opinion polls suggest 60% of the undecided voters in this election are women.
And pollsters believe that they may not make up their mind until they enter the polling booth.
The threat of terrorism is a major concern for women, but they come to different conclusions on which candidate would best keep them and their children safe.
Celinda Lake, an opinion pollster in Washington DC who carries out work for the Democrats, has a thumbnail sketch of that swing female voter.
"She's independent, working outside the home, not college educated, very worried about health care, committed to public schools and thinks the economy is in bad shape. She's suburban and only goes to church on holidays."
Traditionally women are more likely to vote Democrat in the presidential election - and a majority of women are supporting John Kerry.
But pollsters say Senator Kerry has underperformed with women voters.
Whereas Al Gore won the women's vote by 10 percentage points in 2000, Mr Kerry is on average ahead by between five and seven points - worrying for his strategists.
George Bush has more of the women's vote than Republicans usually enjoy.
His strategists put this down to the "security mom" factor - mothers with children concerned about terrorist attacks who perceive Mr Bush to be the leader who will best protect America.
中文:
美國女性選民在決定到底支持哪位總統(tǒng)候選人時傷透了腦筋。
民意測驗顯示,尚未做出抉擇的選民中有60%是女性。
民意測驗專家們認為她們可能只有走進投票站后才能打定主意。
恐怖主義威脅是女性選民最關(guān)心的一個議題,但是在哪位候選人能夠更好地保障她們自己和孩子們安全的問題上,她們得出了截然不同的結(jié)論。
華盛頓的民意測驗專家塞琳達·萊克為民主黨工作。她為立場搖擺不定的美國女性選民們勾勒了一幅速寫圖:
“她個性獨立,外出工作,沒上過大學,非常擔心衛(wèi)生保健問題。她絕對信任公立學校,認為美國經(jīng)濟正處于低迷狀態(tài)。她住在郊區(qū),只有假日才去教堂?!?BR> 按照傳統(tǒng),總統(tǒng)大選中女性選民投票支持民主黨的可能性更大一些,今年大多數(shù)女性選民支持約翰·克里。
但是民意調(diào)查專家說,(與以往相比)參議員克里在女性選民眼里表現(xiàn)欠佳。
2000年,阿爾·戈爾以10個百分點的優(yōu)勢贏得了女性的選票,而克里平均起來只五到七個百分點,他的智囊團為此感到擔心。
與共和黨通常贏得女性選民選票的狀況相比,喬治·布什贏得了更多女性選民的選票。
他的智囊團將這一結(jié)果歸因于“安全媽媽”因素——有孩子的母親們更加關(guān)注恐怖襲擊,她們感覺布什才是能夠更好地保護美國安全的領袖。
詞匯:
pollster: one that takes public-opinion surveys(民意調(diào)查者,民意測驗專家)
underperform: to perform not as well as (something else)(表現(xiàn)不佳)