In 2008, Barack Obama cruised to an easy win over John McCain thanks in large part to a large gender gap -- the Democrat got the support of a narrow plurality of men, but defeated the Republican among women by 13 points.
Four years later, the GOP agenda may very well make the gap even wider.
[President Obama's] standing with female voters is strengthening, polls show, as the economy improves and social issues, including birth control, become a bigger part of the nation's political discourse. [...]
The recent furor over whether religious employers should be forced to pay for their workers' contraception is certainly a factor but hardly the only reason for women warming up to Obama again after turning away from him late last year.
An Associated Press-GfK poll suggests women also are giving the president more credit than men are for the country's economic turnaround.
The numbers are pretty striking, at least at this point in the process. Obama's approval rating among women is up 10 points since December -- a period that includes an improving economy and a renewed culture-war agenda from Republicans -- and in hypothetical match-ups, while the president ties his GOP challengers among men, he leads Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum by 13 and 16 points, respectively.
And while the economic future remains uncertain, Republican policymakers remain eager to pursue policies that push women away, including a vote this week on the odious anti-contraception Blunt Amendment on Capitol Hill, and a variety of offensive measures at the state level.
Patricia Speyerer, an 87-year-old Republican-leaning voter in Mississippi, told the AP, "Republicans are making a big mistake with this contraception talk, and I'm pretty sure that they are giving (the election) to Obama. It's a stupid thing."
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Score another victory for Republican spin. The employers were only being required to pay for insurance. The insurance would cover the contraception (unless, of course, it was one of those rare employers which can self-insure). A subtle, but important, distinction.
Dam wimmin. Just won't behave. Won't foller the Bible and submit.
First they want to stick their nose in your "business", and then it is a vaginal probe. . .
Pretty soon it will be Virginity Inspections, Egyptian style!
Gol Durn Fernickity Wimmen
George "Gabby" Hays circa 1953
I think the American people should demand that there be a separation between religion and state. I had the opportunity to watch President Kennedys' speech about this and it holds so true. I think by having this separation it protects us from civil wars and the like which has devastated other countries where there is no such separation America was founded on diversity some people even Presidential candidates maybe don't get this. Racism leads to fascism. Ask Sarah Palin the fascist spokesperson.
Women's Strike Force...the women's SuperPac. Yes!
Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) urges North Carolinians to vote NO on Amendment 1 on May 8 - that is our local referendum regarding "protection of marriage" but it goes much farther than that.
It is not just a contraception issue or an abortion issue or even an issue regarding the separation of Church and State any longer: it is about living decently in a decent society. Any woman voting Republican in November does so against her own best interests and against the best interests of equality before the law and decent society everywhere!
This is so bleeding obvious I am, as a man, completely nonplussed by women who not only vote Republican, but preach, repeat, propigate, promote and defend that Party and its candidates.
Even the kows what advertize for Chick-Fil-A r smartur.
Fellow North Carolinian, here. While I freely admit that I've never had the planning and foresight to vote in a primary, I'm happy to report that that odious Amendment has actually inspired me to get my crap together this election section.
I am so ready to deliver the smackdown against the admendment come May...
Thank you, Sgt. Gym Bunny!
And this is why, as a Republican woman, I am finding it difficult to ignore the absurdity of the party's candidates. I never thought I'd have to consider (in the year 2012, mind you) that my rights as a woman would be threatened by this good ol' boy club.
I know the criticism and name-calling abound in these forums, especially regarding republicans, but some of us are finding ourselves seriously torn when it comes to choosing the best candidate or lesser evil, depending on how you spin it.
That is understood, Huntress.
There is something evil abroad that we women must fight together before it blights everything that is decent and wholesome about American society. We all deserve equal justice before the law and self-determination. We all deserve to live decently in a decent society. This has nothing whatever to do with Republican v. Democrats or conservatives v. liberals.
Carolinalady -- you are absolutely correct, and this is at the heart of it all. You said exactly what has been going through my mind recently, so thank you.
Can someone explain why is it that when white men feel like "wounded bears" emasculated, not powerful over "other", uncertain of themselves, and generally "failures" - why is it that everyone else (women, minorities,gays, animals, the environment et.al) must suffer the brutal outrage and get beat up?!
What is it that has made these rethugnikan men (& women) jump back into the 19th century, and why must WE all go back there with them?!
http://www.alternet.org/visions/154144/?page=entire
Zora asks, "What is it that has made these rethugnikan men (& women) jump back into the 19th century, and why must WE all go back there with them?!?
Perhaps the answer is found in Frank Schaeffer's new book, Sex, Mom, & God, where he says that evangelicals are trapped in a "downward" spiral of always needing to out do the other evangelicals by subscribing to 1 more crazy tenent of the Bronze Age society recordered in the Old Testament. By trying to be more holly than all others they have become crazy as measured by 21st Century standards.
Never mind approval ratings, the only approval that matters to a True Republican Woman is her husband's approval (or not) of her. She'll vote as she's told.
That's exactly why there are curtains on voting booths. You can tell your wife to vote any way you want, but she can vote any way she wants and doesn't have to tell you. Only a person disconnected from reality thinks they control their wife's vote.
A woman voting Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.
Well, I guess it's this generation of women who need set the record straight. We should put a bill forward that states if a man wants any male enhancement drugs he needs to first have a penil probe inserted. That may quiet them down. Coming from an abusive relationship, I can tell you that it all has to do with low self esteem on the part of the male. Look at some of these men who are suggesting the vaginal probe, etc. They look like they may have been turned down a few times by women.
What is it with the republicans and their fixation with vaginas?Do they think vaginas create jobs? Were they abused by their mothers or something.Do they want to turn back the clock and make women use coat hangers like they had to do before Roe v Wade?Or use the back alley abortionists that gave them life threatening infections and sometimes death.Is this really where we want our country to go?It seems thats where the republican party wants to take us.
With Rick Santorum using the Duggar family of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting as campaign surrogates, is it really any surprise that Barrack Obama (or any other candidate) is outpacing him when it comes to garnering female support? The Duggars' views on gender equality and women's rights (http://the-duggar-cult.angelfire.com/) are right up there with polygamist cults and Sharia law.
My grandmother, God Bless her soul was Catholic she had 11 children and throughout her entire life she had horrendous health problems which eventually killed her. She was unable to live a more happier life because of her difficulties. I don't believe this is what God intended for her. We as women have learned from this. We have progressed we want to enjoy our life and our children. If we choose not to have children that is okay, God may have other plans for us. God wants us to progress and God wants world peace.
When is someone going to stand up and say that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee that companies in the general marketplace, affiliated with a religious institution or not, can chose which laws they will follow. Religious freedom does not include non-religious businesses, even when they are affiliated with a religious institution.
I think the GOP died long ago, and these embers they are stirring are a failed attempt to rekindle their life. Yeah, let's go attack women! That'll get everyone excited!!
You know, when Reagan tried to reclaim masculine pride in victory after the defeats of Vietnam, he went and invaded Grenada -- a miniscule Caribbean island -- because Cubans were helping them build an airstrip [??!!] Then he claimed America could walk tall again.
But success at killing bin Laden and disrupting the Al Quaeda network doesn't puff the guys up with enough pride they can lay off the women?
Ann Coulter endorsing murdering abortion providers:
- GOProud board member Ann Coulter, on her love for anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, who endorses the murder of abortion doctors.
You gotta love spin that goes from murdering abortion providers to taking away democracy in one breathless leap of inanity.
#1 rule of GOP males: If you cannot eat it, screw it or use it then destroy it. Either GOP males get a grip or loose a battle they are not equiped to fight. Logic will rule the day. Let us not forget that the laws in this country designed to provide women with an education have also impacted the intire planet. We are no longer forced to submit to beatings, degredation and a way of life based on his mood of the day.
If the religious right way to enforce a belief on us, may I suggest that it be from the Gospel of Thomas, #114. This Gospel can be found in "The Nag Hammadi Library".
Let the Women's Strike Force go national. It is long overdue.