A few weeks ago, who knew that female cats would become such a political force? All because of a misguided comment by a vice presidential candidate mocking “childless cat ladies.”
The only thing is that we know quite a few cats (childless and not) who belong to the same party as that person, and they are just as annoyed by this remark as people on the other side of the political spectrum. And when the guy recently tried to take back his comment (which he actually made in 2021), he only made it worse.
It’s such a stupid and divisive thing to say in the first place – and unnecessary. It feeds into a cliche that isn’t even true. I uted into the demographics behind who cat ladies really are. And you know? “Cat ladies” are a broad group of people who, other than the fact that they like cats, can’t really be labeled.
Let’s look at some of the statistics.
According to data-axle.com:
64% of cat owners are women. However, 60% of dog owners are also women! So there isn’t that much difference between owning a cat and a dog.
Only 3% more dog owners are married than cat owners. So no, not all female cats are celibate. And while there are few hard statistics about how many single cat owners there are, it ranges from 30 to 50%. That’s right, somewhere between 50 and 70% of cat owners are married or live with a partner.
Here are some additional numbers, according to Forbes.com:
40% of cat owners have an income over 100K, and 36% of cat owners also own their own home.
81% of Gen Z pet owners (you know, our future) have cats.
Are cats sad? Actually, this is completely a myth. Many people are familiar with the Psychology Today story from a few years ago that pointed out that cat people tend to be more introverted than dog people. And there’s the truth: people are introverts I do not want to be around people all that. They’re not lonely, they’re just more comfortable in their own company. Or hang out with their cats and no one else. That’s not alone, that’s their own preference.
And what about political leanings? Don’t think that cats only belong to one side of the political spectrum. According to statistics from Cramer-Krasselt, 40% of Democrats own cats, while 35% of Republicans own cats. So while owning a cat can be blue, it’s not that big of a deal. And 77% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans consider their cats part of the family. So while there’s a wider difference here, it’s still a majority in both cases.
I think it’s safe to say that there are millions of cat owners across the political spectrum, and they all love their feline masters. We may disagree about a lot of things, but never let that get in the way of what’s really important: cats, of course!
