Record 40% of young women want to flee US: poll

A new survey found that a record number of young women are interested in fleeing the U.S. and moving abroad permanently.

Gallup recently found for the second year in a row that approximately one in five Americans say they would like to leave the U.S. and move to another country permanently. 

However, a growing number of young women expressed interest in fleeing the country. According to the polling firm, 40% of women ages 15 to 44 said they would move abroad permanently if given the opportunity. Gallup noted that in 2014, only one-quarter as many women of that age bracket expressed a desire to leave the country.

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By contrast, 19% of the young women’s male counterparts said they would like to leave the U.S. for good, marking what Gallup said was the widest gap it had recorded in this trend. Gallup also noted that few countries had shown this kind of gender gap in a desire to migrate since it started measuring the question globally in 2007.

The polling firm said the first decisive increase in the number of young women looking to leave the U.S. occurred in 2016, as then-President Barack Obama’s second term came to a close. The 2016 survey was conducted in June and July, after both parties chose their presumptive nominees for the presidential election. While the results seem to be political in nature, Gallup assessed that the results suggested a “broader shift” among young women rather than “a solely partisan one.”

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The results of the survey come on the heels of an election in which Democratic candidates won big with voters from that same group.

In the high-stakes Virginia gubernatorial race, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. A Fox News poll found that Spanberger benefited from a significant gender gap with 65% of women casting their ballots for her, while just 35% of women voted for Earle-Sears. While Earle-Sears had higher support among men, the gap between the two candidates was much smaller. The Fox News poll found Spanberger trailed Earle-Sears by just 4 points among men, paling in comparison to the Democrat’s 30-point advantage with women.

In an ad released just over a month before the election, Spanberger hit Earle-Sears for her opposition to abortion. When asked about the video, a spokesperson for Spanberger told Fox News Digital that it was important that voters know about Earle-Sears’ position.

“The Republican nominee in this race has called abortion ‘wicked’ and just this year handwrote a note on Virginia’s proposed constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights in Virginia making clear that she is ‘morally opposed,'” the spokesperson said.

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This could signal a ripple effect from the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, have used their platforms to address reproductive rights. While Harris lost on the issue, it seemed to work for Spanberger, who is set to be Virginia’s first female governor.