Elizabeth Nolan Brown on What Democrats Think Women Voters Want
With less than one week left until the 2014 elections, Democrats and Republicans are doubling down on the fight for U.S. Senate seats in several key states. For Democrats, this tends to mean ramping up rhetoric that paints GOP opponents as bad for women's health, livelihoods, and reproductive freedom. But are female voters buying it? And, if so, will that actually translate to wins for liberal candidates?
Elizabeth Nolan Brown takes a look at the poll numbers and finds that "War on Women" rhetoric hasn't been the golden ticket many candidates—and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee—hoped it would be this election. Even (or perhaps especially) in races where "women's issues" have been a central focus, Democratic candidates are seeing only modest leads among female voters. Meanwhile, many of these candidates trail terribly among the male electorate.
