Larger gender gap in a Hillary-Rand match-up?

[Phony Moderate]

Pretty much every match-up poll shows a huge gender gap, but this is especially prevalent in the Hillary-Rand polls. Any particular reason for this? Rand is socially conservative, but not rabidly so (by the standards of his party).

[Never]

It's worth noting that Rand Paul is currently one of the strongest faring Republicans against Hillary Clinton in the polls. As of today, the RCP average of general election polls shows him down by 9 points against Clinton, compared to a 9.3% deficit for Paul Ryan, a 9.5% deficit for Chris Christie, a 10.5% deficit for Jeb Bush, a 11.5% deficit for Marco Rubio, a 12.4% deficit for Mike Huckabee, and a 13.8% deficit for Ted Cruz. Now, where is Rand Paul's additional support coming from? The answer to that would probably explain the massive gender gap that we see between Paul and Clinton. I would infer from the data that Rand Paul is receiving more support from men, but that his standing with women is roughly equivalent to that of other potential Republican candidates. This additional support for Paul from men could account for the larger gender gap.

[henster]

Rand is vehemently anti abortion he's currently co-sponsoring the Fetal Personhood Amendment which would ban all abortions even in case of rape, incest, and in case the mother's life is danger. Also many forms of contraceptives. Not to mention he's voted against the Violence Against Women Act and Equal Pay several times now it's no surprise there is a gender gap.

[IceSpear]

Which polls show Hillary/Rand as the largest gender gap? I'd be interested to see them.

If I had to take a guess, it would be because his libertarianish tendencies would attract some younger men who would normally hold their nose and vote Democratic.

[eric82oslo]

Pretty much every match-up poll shows a huge gender gap, but this is especially prevalent in the Hillary-Rand polls. Any particular reason for this? Rand is socially conservative, but not rabidly so (by the standards of his party).

You mention it yourself in your final line. Women are on average more socially conservative than men, at least when it comes to traditional family values and religion, while men are much more economically conservative than women. Rand is fairly liberal on social issues, while deeply conservative on economic issues, making him highly attractive to men, but not so much to women.