Betsy Hart: Why do women support Democratic candidates?

It's obvious to me that men and women are built to need each other equally. But it's just as obvious to me that we women are built to be cared for by men differently than they are built to be cared for by us.

In other words, when we don't have a husband, we pretty naturally look for a fallback for all kinds of protection and support. Enter Uncle Sam?

Let's back up to yet another way that I am "different." Sure my kids, and probably various guys I've dated, will tell you there are many ways.

But one in particular? I'm single mom, and I'm a reliable conservative vote in any election. I don't exactly think I'm shocking anyone with that news. But it makes me an oddity. Single women — even more than their married sisters — overwhelmingly favor Democrats.

In general, according to a New York Times/CBS poll just out, 45 percent of men say they will vote for the Republican in their district and 32 percent for the Democrat. Meanwhile, 43 percent of women say they will vote for the Democrat, 36 percent the Republican.

Today the "gender gap" in politics, or the trend of women voting more Democratic than men, is the accepted norm. But it's a relatively recent one. So why the change?

First, just the facts, ma'am. According to the Gallup organization, the gender gap first showed up in significant terms in a presidential race in 1984. (A majority of women still voted for Ronald Reagan that year, just at much lower rates than men.) A majority of women have voted Democratic since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992.

But Gallup shows that, in 1976, a majority of women backed Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter. For the dozen or so years before that, men and women had pretty similar voting patterns. Before 1964, "women actually voted Republican at higher rates than men did," Gallup shows.

Married women are actually more likely to vote Republican than single women, though they remain a true "swing group" of voters. In contrast, single women tend to be rock-solid Democrats. Never-married women and/or single women with children, more Democratic still.

It shouldn't be hard to finish drawing the circle now. It seems that many women who have a husband to provide for and protect them favor Republicans. While women who don't have a husband are apparently more likely to look to the government to provide and protect instead.