Veteran political operative Karl Rove advises campaigns to “attack the strength”, and it looks like the right has been listening… at least, as it pertains to women. A new USAToday/Gallup poll of swing states shows that women are becoming increasingly engaged and interested in issues that favor Republicans.
The poll was taken October 5 through 11 in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
According to USAToday, “Romney has pulled within one point of the president among women who are likely voters, 48%-49%, and leads by 8 points among men.” The chart below shows that Romney has wooed five percent more women in swing states than in non-swing states and D.C., positioning him neck-in-neck with Obama (49% Obama to 48% Romney) among likely female voters.
Chart by USAToday
Further, the USAToday/Gallup poll shows that women are increasingly citing economic issues as a top concern, which back what Colorado’s center-right women’s organization, Colorado Women’s Alliance, found.
Chart by USAToday
Citing the deficit and debt as a top concern, 52% of the population believes Romney would do a better job handling, giving him a 9% advantage over Obama. The two candidates are even when it comes to unemployment. Perhaps the pollsters felt that jumpstarting the economy was comprised of deficit reduction and unemployment, but they didn’t seem to ask directly about reviving the economy.
Nonetheless, the Colorado Women’s Alliance conducted a roundtable of pro-choice women talking about the 2012 election and found that “the participants felt they could prioritize their important issues, and jobs/economy should be the number one issue. In fact, one woman who participated in the roundtable noted, ‘without a strong economy, we lose all of our choices.'”