http://todayonthetrail.today.msnbc.msn.com/...
Who could have predicted that the leader of the Republican Party calling women "sluts" and "prostitutes" for demanding that their insurance cover basic birth control might not sit well with the female electorate?
Who could predict that a party whose Presidential candidates and all but one of its Senators are all vying to impose the most draconian clampdown on contraception in half a century might find itself on the short end of political donations by women?
President Barack Obama has the ladies on lock, according to a recent Associated Press-GfK poll
* * *
The poll, conducted Feb. 16-20, found that female voters are more likely than men to credit the president for the economy’s slow but steady turnaround. Obama’s approval rating among women jumped to 53 percent, up ten percent from just a few months ago, the poll found.
High-profile political back-and-forth over such social issues as requiring insurance companies to cover contraception for employees of religious institutions may also be helping steer female voters Obama’s way, the poll found.
While the GOPers are scrambling off a cliff to please a few reactionaries and women-hating Bishops, they seem to have ignored the fact that the issue of birth control also highly motivates women who um....actually use birth control. That would be about half the electorate.
Women make up just over half of the electorate and this critical voting block helped Obama clinch a win over GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in the 2008 elections.
Obama also “comes the closest to gender parity in terms of campaign cash,” according to an analysis of individual donations of $200 or more by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money in politics.
The Republican "strategy" has succeeded in alienating the
very bloc of voters who are actually responsible for Obama's lead in the polls:
Women also are the reason behind Obama's lead over Republican hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum: In one-on-one matchups, Obama beats Romney 54 percent to 41 percent and tops Santorum 56 percent to 40 percent among women, but virtually ties each Republican among men.
The disparity is
particularly acute among Independent women:
Polling, too, bears out Republicans struggles with women — particularly those who identify themselves as independents. Among that critical voting bloc, just 25 percent had a favorable opinion of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in a Washington Post-ABC News poll released earlier this week. Just 30 percent of female independents saw Santorum in a favorable light. By contrast, 53 percent of independent women viewed President Obama favorably.
Even
Republican-leaning independents are disgusted with the GOP:
"Republicans are making a big mistake with this contraception talk, and I'm pretty sure that they are giving (the election) to Obama," says Patricia Speyerer, 87, of McComb, Miss., a GOP-leaning independent. "It's a stupid thing."
This is an issue that is going to carry over right into the general election season. Women aren't going to "forget about it." It's visceral. It's about much more than sex. It's about livelihoods and futures. It's about women choosing what kind of lives they want to lead. What the Republican Party forgot was that when they challenged a woman's right to have birth control they implicitly showed their disdain and disrespect of women's ability to make
any choices,
any decisions.
When someone shows you that kind of disrespect you're going to pay them back in kind.
You're also going to stick with those who support you.
You can donate to President Obama's re-election campaign here.
