Women are increasingly turning their noses up at the 2016 election, including Democratic women despite the likelihood that their party's nominee will be one of them, according to a new Gallup survey of the gender gap in those closely following the election.

Women have never paid as much attention to the current race as men, but Gallup found that the attention gap has expanded in recent months.



Once just two points apart, in February, the gap is now 13 points and is seen in both Democratic and Republican ranks as men continue to be engaged in the election dominated by news coverage of Republican Donald Trump.

Gallup said that 44 percent of men, compared to 31 percent of women, are paying close attention to the race.

"The gender gap persists within both parties. An aggregated analysis of March and April responses shows that Republican men are eight points more likely than Republican women to be following the election very closely, while Democratic men are 11 points more likely than Democratic women," said Gallup.

"Pure independents — those who do not lean to either party — are following the news less closely than those in either party, regardless of gender, as would be expected. But even with overall lower levels of interest, independent men are significantly more likely than independent women to say they are following the news very closely," added the survey analysis.

Gallup blamed the lack of female candidates for women paying less attention, though that doesn't explain the low interest among Democrats who are likely to nominate their first woman as the party candidate. What's more, several groups that support women's issues, such as Planned Parenthood and Emily's List have been very public about backing Clinton.

But, just 30 percent of Democratic women are paying attention the to race, compared to 44 percent of Republican women.

"Data show that there has been a gender gap in attention paid to historical elections as well. One possible, although difficult-to-document hypothesis, is that the general absence of women as candidates for the major parties' nominations over time could be a factor in women's overall lower attention to the race. Even this year, despite the presence of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic front-runner, only one other individual out of the more than 20 candidates who began the presidential race is a woman — Carly Fiorina," said Gallup.

"The implications of the gender gap in election interest are unclear at this point. Women may well vote at their usual levels — women constituted 53 percent of the presidential vote in 2012 based on exit polling — even if their interest levels stay relatively low. It's also entirely possible that women's relative interest may pick up once the two parties hold their conventions in July and the nominees are solidified," said Gallup.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com