After 20 years of holding a presidential caucus, the Democratic party brought back an actual presidential primary this year.  Bernie Sanders won the contest with 37% of the vote compared to 25% for Joe Biden.

What do we know about the women of Colorado who voted in the Democratic primary on Super Tuesday?

In terms of turnout, women made up a majority of Democratic primary voters – totaling 56% of the electorate.

2020 DEM CO PRIMARY TURNOUT

Overall, Bernie Sanders did the best among female Democratic primary voters with 25% compared to Biden at 19%, and Bloomberg and Warren both at 17%.   Even though they dropped out of the race a few days prior to Super Tuesday, the exit poll shows Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar with 13% and  8% of the female vote respectively.  The reason? Unlike other exit polls, which are conducted as voters leave the polling place, Colorado’s exit poll was based on a phone survey of early voters.

WOMEN SUPPORT

And what about the gender gap – how did women differ from men in who they supported?

Similar to many other states, men in Colorado were more likely than women to support Sanders (a 7 point gap) and at the far end of the spectrum women were more likely than men to support Warren (an 8 point gap).

COLORADO GENDER GAP

Note: The Colorado Republican Party did hold a presidential preference contest with President Trump receiving 92% of the vote and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld receiving 4% of the vote. There is no exit poll data available.