Wooing Women Voters
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-09-24/wooing-women-voters
Men and women have different views of this year’s presidential election. Most polls show Republican Mitt Romney holds a small lead among male voters, while President Barack Obama has a big lead among female ones. In the final six weeks of the campaign, women have become a key target for both sides. More women are registered, more turn out to vote and they are more likely to be undecided or “persuadable.” Democratic pollster Margie Omero and Republican pollster Christine Matthews describe what sorts of women could decide the November election. Bay Buchanan, a representative of the Romney campaign, and Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for Obama’s reelection, tell us how the candidates are trying to appeal to them.
Guests
Margie Omero
president and founder of Momentum Analysis, a Democratic public opinion research firm.
Bay Buchanan
adviser to the Romney Presidential Campaign.
Stephanie Cutter
deputy campaign manager for President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign.
Christine Matthews
president of Bellwether Research.
Comments
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Your Republican commentator denied that Romney had accused the 47% of feeling entitled to food and accused the commentator of exaggerating.
Romney did make that statement...."There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, WHO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE ENTITLED TO HEALTH CARE, TO FOOD, TO HOUSING, TO YOU-NAME-IT
Commentators should not be allowed to lie, unchallenged.
I have not been able to hear the entire show, but for me the issue is and will always be that no one should have the right to decide FOR me whether or not I can make the difficult choice to have an abortion.
One should never use the word "suffragette" as it is a derogatory term created by those who opposed woman's right to vote. The ending"ette" is a diminutive, so suffragette translates as "little suffrage." The correct term for those who support woman's right to vote is suffragist. Please inform your guests and make the correction when the improper term is used. I am presuming that your guest did not intend to be derogatory towards those who support woman's right to vote.
I am a woman who cares about our environment and wildlife. I want children to breathe clean air and consume safe water and food. I also want them to be able to visit parks and view an abundance of wildlife. This is an important reason why I vote Democrat. I feel the Republicans are too willing to sacrifice these two in order to pursue job growth.
One of your guests commented that the President does not have control of class size in schools. I believe that because the President and the Congress has control of the cuts or additions to education budgets, they do have control. If they cut budgets for education then teachers are laid off or fired and their students are distributed into other classes which causes over crowding.
I agree with many commenters here that Susan Page didn't challenge what her guests were saying, in particular the Republican defenders. I was shocked to hear Christine Matthews say, "You first have to make the case against the incumbent", in response to a question regarding exactly what Romney's platform really is (he has none). Unbelievable.
Thank you for your comment. Romney's statements were very clear - they cannot be construed in any way other than he meant them.
Agreed. I rely on this program and others like it for unbiased analysis. I must believe that the listener base for DRShow is well-informed and thoughtful. The pollsters, Ms. Buchanan and Ms. Cutter were certainly doing their respective jobs - but let them do it elsewhere! Please do not go the way of other media outlets by pandering to those seeking to hear partisan spin!
The comment about congress not passing anything Obama proposes is always one sided.
Why not also talk about Obama's unwillingness to budge on anything he proposes as the reason congress cannot vote for it?
Or the democratic senate not working with the republican congress, so that anything congress does vote for gets voted down by the senate.
.
Diane does a much better job of moderating. Susan Page let the guests go on and on and did not allow enough time for emails or calls. Reading the comments section here has been much more informative as to why women favor Obama.
Because the rethuglican majority insists on total appeasement not compromise. Their idea of compromise is that Democrats yield 100% on everything a "my way or the highway" approach. Furthermore rethuglicans made it very clear from the night that the president was inaugurated that their total goal was to make the President's term a failure so as to make him a "one term' President no matter how much it injured the country. That approach cannot be compromised with.
Excellent points Balto- in order to improve a woman's economic well being she must be able to control her reproductive life. Birth control in third world countries allows families to pull themselves out of poverty. And I do find it hypocritical that Republicans want the govt. out of everyone's lives except when it comes to sex and reproduction.
Excellent points Balto and Lisa- in order to improve a woman's economic well being she must be able to control her reproductive life. Birth control in third world countries allows families to pull themselves out of poverty. And I do find it hypocritical that Republicans want the govt. out of everyone's lives except when it comes to sex and reproduction.
@ tom hodgson
I agree. I want to hear objective analysis, not cheerleading from political partisans. News, not entertainment. Unfortunately, the more I listen to NPR the more I realize I am listening to polite journalism/news. I seldom hear an NPR journalists or host ask guests hard questions, and when I do and the interviewee dodges the question, the journalist/host fails to press the interviewee for an answer. Like I said, "polite' journalism.
I think that is one of the problems with NPR depending on government funding and advertisers/sponors. I think NPR is afraid to bite the hands that feed them.
Did I actually hear on today's show that Mitt Romney's campaign believes that women are more dependent on the government programs because men "know they can make it" whereas women need government support? Guess the 47% are women. Why in the world a woman would vote republican is beyond me. Between thinking that women want government handouts, women shouldn't make their own decisions about their bodies, supporting corporate greed, repealing much needed health care reform that benefits women, wanting to institute a voucher system for medicare, proposing a constitutional ammendment discriminationg against gay couples marrying and just generally acting like the good ole boys club, the republican party doesn't make much sense.
President Obama pullled us up by the collar out of what would have been a complete economic meltdown that would have left us devistated for years to come. Did anyone really think we wouldn't have to pay a steep price for our economic recovery? i think the fact that we are recovering so soon is a great accomplishment for the president. I have always backed him 100%. He is fair, honest and most of all has tried for bipartisanship since day one. It's what our country needs.
To Jokr8790: Amen!
To the DR Show. Today's 1st segment was problematic. Just look at this comment section.
There are some excellent points made here and how fantastic it would be to have an online dialogue amongst these "guests" (those commenting here.) Huffington Post is a lightweight editorially but has an excellent comment section which allows readers to reply directly to posts and to mark well liked posts with a click of the favorite button. The DR Show webpage would do well to provide a similar ability for your listeners.
Please consider making this change. It would be so welcomed and truly valuable to your fans.
This has been nothing but a bunch of flowery political rhetoric with no substance, especially from the GOP side. How about giving us some specific plans and programs? What SPECIFIC things does Romney have in mind to change? Will he try to criminalize abortion? What plans does he have to help small business (other than cut taxes and remove regulations)? Why won't somebody give us a straight answer?
And Obama - will he finally find his spine? He gives nice speeches but doesn't DO anything. He has the same economic team that Bush had. Will it be 4 more years of status quo with him?
I've just about had enough of the 2 major parties. Probably I'll be voting for Jill Stein (Green Party). There are other 3rd party presidential candidates - Rocky Anderson, Gary Johnson, Virgil Goode. People should check them out.
James Todd wrote:
"I think the Tea Party has given a greater gift to the president than anyone else could have."
That's what the Dems thought in 2010 as well.
The anger, vitriol, misrepresentation, and outright lies from the left are palpable the closer we get to November 6th. They see the handwriting on the wall. President Obama remains well under 50%. He received 53% of the vote in 2008. So depending on the poll, say 8% of those who voted for him are undecided. That's like asking a wife if she wants to remain married to her husband, and she replies "I'm undecided".
Everything old is new again. It's 1980.
Um, really? Surely you're just joking when you say "The anger, vitriol, misrepresentation, and outright lies from the left are palpable", or you made a mistake, and meant to say "the right". I'm pretty sure that the hate and fear campaign has come from the Rethuglicant party.
Um, yeah. Be real. You want to talk hate and fear? How about:
Class warfare (the 99% v. the 1%), the "war on women", the "war on seniors", "the war on Hispanics", "the war on gay people", "the war on 'name your group'", Republicans want diry air and dirty water, Republicans want to eliminate regulation, Republicans want to ship jobs overseas, Republicans want to eliminate Government, blah, blah, blah.
THAT is the propaganda of hate and fear.
@ecgberht: Yep. And it's a shame that ALL of it is absolutely true. Americans didn't want all of these "wars" on its people, but the Republican party with the Tea-bagger extensions have literally placed most of this country under attack with their political platform(s).
Women, minorities, the middle-class, the poor...anything not white and rich have been basically denigrated and disrespected by the vast majority of the Republican party since 2008.
Which way do you expect people to vote when they're constantly under attack?
Also, USA Today's Susan Page should be ashamed of how she conducted herself on the show today.
I tuned this show out as soon as I heard the dreaded word "pollster" in the introduction. I am sick to death of polls, and the "sporting event" mentality it inspires as a substitute for reasoned political reporting.
Who's up, who's down, who's in, who's out.
Who cares?
I have three political mantras:
People who try to predict the future thereby prove they're fools.
Polling doesn't count, only voting does.
(And most important of all.)
It's a long way to Election Day!
I'm a woman, and there is no way I would vote for Romney/Ryan. I am 62. As far as I am concerned, they are women-haters. They want power over women. They do not care about women. They want to force women to have babies. A fetus who cannot yet feel pain is more important to them than a woman or stem cell research.
Chuck-Suhali Hadar asked:
"Which way do you expect people to vote when they're constantly under attack? "
I would expect them to vote against the party that enslaves its constituents to the government. I would expect them to vote against the party that has put more people on food stamps than any other. I would expect them to vote against the party that has placed an additional 60% worth of debt on its children and grandchildren; now over $50K for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
This is the worst DR show I have ever heard. I don't listen to this show to hear political ads like that given by Bay Buchanan. I thought this show was a forum for having intelligent and informative discussions, not a venue for salesmanship.
This is one of the worst programs I've heard from the D Rehm Show - which seldom fails to interest me. All I have heard today is "Vote Romney; Women all love Romney, etc". Pointing to Co. Spgs, CO as typical of women voters is ridiculous. That town is full of religious fundamentalists and ultra conversatives. I can't bear to hear the last half hour.
Ms. Buchanan must think we're not listening to her. I find it contradictory for her to assert that women have started all those new businesses and then to portray women as interested in security and risk-averse. Starting a business is not risk-averse behavior, not a life choice toward security. Also Ms. Buchanan's anxious tone was pretty remarkable, too. I was worried for her health there for a minute.
Jane201 wrote: ." I rely on this program and others like it for unbiased analysis" "Cutter were certainly doing their respective jobs - but let them do it elsewhere! Please do not go the way of other media outlets by pandering to those seeking to hear partisan spin!"
You rely on unbiased analysis on this show? Talk about a non sequitur.