Recent polls have shown, Republican candidate Rick Perry not performing well among female voters. The polls indicate that Perry is trailing fellow GOP candidate Mitt Romney 37% to 40% in female voters. The results of this poll are not all negative for the Perry camp, as the poll also shows Gov. Perry leading Romney in male voters 31% to 20%. Perry has traditionally won the support of male voters because of his aptly displayed “Texas swagger”. John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster described Perry as “a man’s man, doesn’t hold back, says what’s on his mind, risk taker, Macho.” Many of these qualities do not appeal well to female GOP voters, as they are more likely to rally behind Romney’s more comforting, safe, and mature demeanor. Women as a voting block are very diverse and not well united, that being said, in the recent elections, women have tended to lean towards Democrats. Swaying female voters to the GOP will be a focus of Republican candidates in the upcoming election. Perry’s weak appeal to female voters could be a cause of concern for the GOP, should Perry win the nomination. Women are a massive voting block, and despite Perry’s large support among Evangelicals and Latinos, he may fall short in the election if he does not improve his approval among women. Besides concerns about his character, women voters are reluctant to support Perry because of his political decisions, specifically mandating HPV vaccinations for young girls in Texas. With all the negative attention surrounding Perry and women voters, let us not forget that it is still early in the election process, and Rick Perry could very well win over female voters by the time it’s all said and done. Should Perry find a way to receive equal support from both genders, he would be a serious force in the GOP, and a strong candidate for President.
I definitely agree that Perry is not doing enough to win over women in the elections; however, do you think that women are a large enough voting bloc to make an impact in the election? Although women are a large part of our population, they do not seem to have a large voting bloc that politicians are concerned with winning over. That is not to say that there are not issues that are particularly important to women, but rather, that female voters do not necessarily rally around these issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Perry's lagging in women voters will cripple him on the grand scale in comparison to Romney. After all, Romney is only leading him by 3 points. However, I think that the GOP in general will have to do more to attract all types of women voters. I wouldn't be surprised if women were sticking to the Democratic Party just because of the way that Bachmann portrays women's roles and reflects that on the Republican Party.
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