Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Last week, Karen Tumulty had a story in the Washington Post about how the contraception battle is supposedly devastating Republican candidates. It includes such lines as "But many Republicans are beginning to wish they had never waded into what has become a heated conversation over contraception, who should have it and what it says about people who use it."
Yesterday, here at Ricochet, I pointed out this bizarre New York Times story which required eight reporters to find five women who say that they may not vote or, if they do, they may not vote Republican. It includes lines such as this "The sudden return of the 'culture wars' over the rights of women and their place in society has resulted, the women said, in a distinct change in mood in the past several weeks." Their place in society? Oh do simmer down, eight reporters for the New York Times. Check this paragraph out:
To what extent women feel alienated remains unclear: most interviews for this article were conducted from a randomly generated list of voters who had been surveyed in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, and their responses are anecdotal, not conclusive. But the latest comments from the Republican candidates and in the right-wing media, aimed at energizing the party’s conservative base, have been enraging to some women.
OK, so you know what you're supposed to think, if you read the Washington Post and the New York Times: those ladies with their lady parts are taking to their fainting couches over the GOP's war on women. And women don't care about religious liberty or any other issue, like jobs, the economy, gas prices, etc. They're really motivated solely by hyped up stories about contraception.
So how devastated are the Republican candidates? How much of a bump is President Obama seeing in these polls?
Well, funny you should ask. The Washington Post has a new poll out that shows President Obama is losing support from both men and women.
And the New York Times just released a poll showing declining support for Obama:
At a time of rising gas prices, heightened talk of war with Iran and setbacks in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama’s approval rating dropped substantially in recent weeks, the poll found, with 41 percent of respondents expressing approval of the job he is doing and 47 percent saying they disapprove — a dangerous position for any incumbent seeking re-election.
Their story includes the line that Obama:
lost some support among women over the past month, even as the debate raged over birth control insurance coverage.
But how could that be?
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Comments:
Feb '12
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Evidence that GOP politicians need not hesitate to argue against the Left's extremism even though they'll be called "anti-woman" or "sexist." The Left does not get to decide what women care about; women have a vicious little habit of thinking for themselves, and married women favor the GOP.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
I think Obama already has the votes of most women who's $10 per month bill for birth control pills is the main hardship of their life.
Sep '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Gas prices!
Dec '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Elizibeth Warren is losing support in favor of Scott Brown as well.
Dec '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
The Democrats need to stick to plausible lies. The "war on women" is so clearly a straw-man; it was a losing argument from the start.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Once we drill past the Fluke/Rush mess and people start to think about what the HHS mandate is all about, this is a winner for our side. We have to frame it right, but HHS mandate is a loser for the president.
This isn't some abstract economic issue. It's the government telling churches they must provide coverage for medical services that violate the religious tenets of that church. The public will get that if we're clear.
Edited on March 13, 2012 at 4:03pmSep '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Mollie, may I suggest a follow up headline?
Obama Administration: Sometimes Contraception Fails.
Jun '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
When the Ministry of Truth renders a decision, the proles are expected to believe it. If the proles refuse to believe the lie, it's because they are too stupid to know what's good for them. Only elite graduates of our Ivy League schools are sophisticated enough to understand the value of a noble lie. If you don't understand this simple truth, it's because you lack the proper credentials. Got it?
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
This is only further proof that Pravda-on-the-Hudson and Pravda-on-the-Potomac are no longer newspapers. Like George Stephanopoulos, those who work at these publications are really political operatives. Someone on Journolist in 2008 spoke of "the unofficial campaign." That is what you are seeing.
Jun '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Meanwhile... Sleep Train begs Rush to let them back on the show and he tells them to pound sand. And Carbonite is sinking fast as analysts point out that they violated the core point of their business plan. Life is great.
Mar '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Could be a twist on the old feminist slogan: "Keep your ovaries off my salary"
Nov '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
I wish there was substance to this because I firmly believe that Obama and the Democrat machine ought to lose credibility and support over this issue as it is so far against mainstream opinion in America. However, this is an issue of messaging, and the biggest non-Obama player in the game, the GOP machine, has chosen to wait it out on the sidelines. This leaves the messaging almost entirely to the blogosphere -- which does a fine job but without the weight of the Republican power center behind it, they only sound like a marginal voice.
Why do I make such discouraging noises? I'm simply trying to be realistic: Gallup has Obama's current approval rating at 47% -- the highest since last summer and marginally higher than his disapproval rating of 46% -- the lowest since last summer. And both are currently trending in the wrong direction (for us).
Rasmussen shows a similar picture, with numbers on slightly varying questions of 49% and 51%, the approval number its highest in a year. The only encouraging datum there is that his "strong disapproval" number is also up, and increasing. But then so is his "strong approval" number. Polarizing.
May '10
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
Could it be that every one recognizes that this issue is so far down the list that they simply don't let it figure into the equation?
Apr '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
The over the top "War on Women" meme is patently absurd and I think the public is sending a message on that. Gas prices are definitely dragging on the president as well since he seems hell bent on doing absolutely nothing since he has no control over gas prices. He has control over every other aspect of life though, so don't smite him.
Apr '11
Re: Obama Loses Support After Month-Long Contraception Battle
As Mollie points out, the article says Obama "lost some support among women over the past month, even as the debate raged over birth control insurance coverage." But the article does not bother to give the number. It does appear, however, in an accompanying chart, which is not as simple to spread around via e-mail. The drop in support among all women, from February, is 12 percentage points. That is simply huge, no way to sugar coat it.