In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in July, a plurality, 46 percent, of married women who live in the suburbs said that if the presidential election were held today, they would vote for a Democrat, while 29 percent said they would vote for a Republican.  Gender is always part of the marketing device for good reason. Men and women have voted differently since 1980, when men voted Republican by a 19-point margin and women voted Republican by a 2-point margin. Fifty-five percent of men voted for Ronald Reagan, the Republican, and 36 percent voted for Jimmy Carter, the Democrat. Forty-seven percent of women voted Republican and 45 percent voted Democratic.  In subsequent campaigns, Democratic candidates assiduously courted female voters. But the last time a Democrat was elected president, when Bill Clinton won the White House in 1992 and 1996, it was in part because he had won over many men.  If the Democrats want to win in 2008, they will have to do the same. But Republicans should not take men for granted either; many say this time they are thinking of voting Democratic. In a New York Times/CBS News poll taken in early September, women, by nearly two to one, said they were likely to vote Democratic in the 2008 presidential election, 53 percent to 27 percent. Men are closely divided, with 41 percent saying they are going to vote for the Democrat for president and 37 percent saying they will vote for the Republican.  Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster whose firm, Public Opinion Strategies, is working for Senator John McCain, said, “Right now all groups are a significant challenge for Republicans.” He has identified groups Republicans could win over. First on his list are “rehab Republicans.” “These are voters who are having a really difficult time dealing with the party, they’re not happy with the war and they disapprove of President Bush,” he said.  Most of the names on Mr. Newhouse’s list have little to do with gender, with the exception of “Wal-Mart women.” Those are voters who “generally have lower incomes, are less educated, tend to be conservative and have been impacted by economic difficulties,” he said.  Mr. Newhouse said this group is a potential audience for Republican candidates. And, he said: “They have doubts about Hillary.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page 414 of the New York edition with the headline: Soccer Moms Are So 1996. Try Wal-Mart Women. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
A low opinion of the president’s job performance has blurred the ideological lines between formerly distinct political subgroups.