Why Aren’t More Women In Office? Even Within Parties, There’s Big Disagreement

Former U.S. Sen. Barabara Mikulski (D-MD), U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) join other women Democratic senators for a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2014.

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Women represent 20 percent of Congress members right now, and Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on why that’s the case, not to mention how big of a problem that is.

That in and of itself is perhaps unsurprising, especially at a time when the parties are heavily divided on a wide variety of topics. But a new poll shows that men and women within each party — and especially among Republicans — differ heavily on several of these questions.

New data from the Pew Research Center shows that Republican and Republican-leaning women are roughly twice as likely (44 percent) as Republican men (24 percent) to say that there are too few women in office, and are also significantly more likely to say that it’s easier for men to get into office.