President Obama holds double-digit leads over both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum among women voters. Many commentators have described a growing gender gap in this election and pegged the debates over women’s issues as the cause.
But drawing on weekly survey data gathered since the beginning of 2012, Tammy Frisby, a Hoover research fellow, concludes that “[the contraception issue] did hurt the Republicans, both Romney and Santorum in head-to-head match ups against the president...but the effect was very short lived.”
In this podcast from the Hoover Institution’s 2012 In Perspective series, three of Hoover's political scholars and analysts, David Brady, Tammy Frisby, and Bill Whalen, discuss the politics of the presidential race now that roughly half the delegates have been awarded.
Hear the group discuss:
- The Republican primary
- The outlook for the General election
- Super PACs and campaign finance
- The GOP’s problems with women voters - both the overblown and the very real
- And the role of the Supreme Court’s health care decision in this election.
The conversation concludes with some thoughts about a Vice Presidential pick for Romney. And Bill Whalen brings some levity - and insight - to the conversation by turning the selection process for Vice President into a classic TV game show.
Click the "play" button below to listen to the podcast.
[audio src="/wp-content/audio/2012InPerspective2.mp3"]
