Can Obama attract men voters?
Yael T. AbouhalkahThe national media, including The Star, are wondering if Mitt Romney can close the gender gap among women with President Barack Obama. More stories here and here.
This question is driven by the fact that many people can’t seem to understand why a woman would vote for a ticket that’s so opposed to abortion and that - frankly - doesn’t appear to care that much about traditional women issues.
But all this wondering about women voters obscures this fact: It’s not the only big question to be asking.
Actually, Obama - even with a double-digit lead nationally among women voters - is only running neck and neck with his GOP opponent.
Why?
Because Romney has a double-digit lead among men, and that completely closes the gap he has with women vs. Obama.
Just one example: CNN’s latest poll shows Obama up on Romney by 12 percentage points among women - and Romney up by 11 percentage points on Obama with men.
So an equally good question for the national press to be asking is: Can Obama attract men voters?
Obama has tried, at least a little bit, to reach across that divide, especially with his talk about how the middle class needs to get a fair shake when it comes to taxes. So he’s trying to appeal to men who want the game played fair and square.
But these efforts pale in comparison to the story lines being told by Democratic supporters of Obama, who want the president to ramp up his appeal for the votes of U.S. women.
Meanwhile, Romney enjoys the traditional Republican advantage with white men, according to the polls.
And the GOP nominee is going to play up his own successes as a businessman, trying to woo voters who think that this kind of person needs to be in the White House. What kind? A winner on the field of big business.
The media can talk all they want about how Romney needs to win over the women vote, and it is certainly important.
But a lot more attention ought to be paid to whether Obama can win over the vote of men. If he can somehow do that, he has a much better shot of being re-elected.
If he fails, his presidency could go down, too.
George Hunsucker
Northland
8 months, 3 weeks agoIt is a “wonder” why women would support a president whose only offer is bigger government, never-ending deficits and an economy that will not provide women the opportunities to help raise their families.
Why do women subject themselves to the obvious pandering the donkeys are doing to woo their votes? Kind of like the poor voting for the donkeys on the “promise” that the donkeys care soooooooooooooooooooooooo much for them. That is, they care to get their vote and then have no plan for truly helping the poor other then making them wards of the government with no future other then being same.
Americans are not so stupid as to buy this lib BS AGAIN come Nov. 6.
the big 0; no budget for over 3 years, trillion dollar deficit every friggin year and no plan to make America strong again. Son of jimmy I…
Yep, I will certainly vote for another four years of this nonsense—NOT
George Hunsucker
Northland
8 months, 3 weeks agoI am sure women see this and just say to themselves, “you know, the big 0 has just done so many good things I need to vote for him again”….
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48811939
Somehow I don’t think so YT……
Justin Williams
8 months, 3 weeks agoGeorge, its funny because you actually just described the last Bush Administration. Government expanded wildly under the President Bush with creation of the huge Homeland Security Department being an marquee example, not to mention the vast expansion of federal powers under the Patriot Act.
President Bush took a gigantic budget surplus and ran deficits by his second term due to his perscrption drug bill, tax cuts and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, because his they didn’t do honest accounting, a good deal of defcits spending attributed to Obama was actually produced by Bushes war spending. This of course was combined with the worst economic collapse since the great depression (although not his fault entirely).
My only question is, did you vote for Bush twice? Because it would seen that your criticisms of Obama fit Bush perfectly.
George Hunsucker
Northland
8 months, 3 weeks agoCare to compare Bush’s deficits to obama’s Justin? What was the average unemployment rate under each Justin?
No I did not vote for Bush twice.
Did you vote for obama?
Phil Cardarella
8 months, 3 weeks agoActually, among men, it is also an age and education gap. Middle aged and less educated men tend to be heavily pro-Romney. College educated men far less so.
To some extent, it is the Guns & Gays Gap. The NRA — now no more than a GOP PAC — has been hysterical about Obama, a guy who has proposed exactly ZERO gun control laws (much to the disappointment of many rational Americans). And the issue of gay rights has been formulated as one of “manhood”. Why would a real man be willing to accept those “queers”, right
But, let us face it, many men are disgruntled because they feel disrespected in a society where — unlike their parents or grandparents — they cannot get a job that earns enough to provide a home and the respect that goes with such employment. It is harder to earn a living with muscle now. They feel beseiged by political correctness — and that is not necessarily inaccurate. Being a guy in our society is tougher than it seems to have been in the past — with more rules and fewer benefits.
Frankly, we men are comparatively simple creatures. That is a good thing and a bad one. It helps us cheer for our teams and fight for our country. But it also makes us more vulnerable to the “us v. them” politics of resentment that has become the GOP hallmark.
And Obama is “other” in so many ways: Mixed race, unusual name, highly educated, bowls gutter balls (but does a mean three-pointer). This was a guy who was never “one of the boys”.
Of course, neither was Mitt (unless the boys were all VERY rich), but that is less obvious to the eye. (What are the chances that Mitt owned a pair of jeans before his advisors told him he needed them in Iowa? And which servant did he send out to buy them?) One of the reasons that Mitt so desperately wants to keep his tax returns secret is because guys understand & forgive “rich” but don’t identify with off-shore secret accounts, etc. I suspect that if he released those, it would shrink the Guy Gap considerably.
Justin Williams
8 months, 3 weeks agoHello George,
I did vote for Obama and I will again, not because I think he is perfect, but I don’t really see a realistic alternative in this election.
Yes you can actually compare the deficit numbers in context. Much of Obama’s deficit spending occurred to re-start the economy after the crash (on top of negative numbers), while Bush spent a trillion dollar surplus that isn’t often counted in his tab. Here is a good graph breaking down the spending of each:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-and-bushs-effect-on-the-deficit-in-one-graph/2011/07/25/gIQAELOrYI_blog.html
Kent Mueller
8 months, 3 weeks agoActually, to narrow women down to one area of issues is quite demeaning to women. Certainly, “women’s issues”, as they are categorized, are important to women. Most likely they are more important to women than they are to men. Yael’s, and other liberal’s, mistake is to assume most all women think of the women’s issues as Yael and other liberal’s think women should think. I don’t even have to take sides to make that observation. Actually, I am in favor of abortions being available, just not funded by those who abhor abortions. As for those who cannot afford a needed abortion, perhaps the liberals in American can close the “Charitable Contribution Gap” they have with conservatives and help them out. If helping is actually their agenda.
But it is demeaning to women to assign them the role of single issue voters. Women understand economics similarly to men. Economics certainly affects women in as many, if not more, ways than men. To think that most women would override their beliefs on economics, employment, education, defense, international relations, entitlements, taxes, etc to vote on a single issue sells women short. They are free to do so, just the same as there are men who vote per a single issue. But to assume that, is very demeaning to women.
Richard L Wagner
8 months, 3 weeks agoIn short, I and many other men voted for Obama last time, and will again this November.
What a silly question.