The Republican primary candidates have expressed a lot of
interest in female genitalia. No, I’m not talking about Rick Santorum’s seven
children or Newt Gingrich’s wives. I’m talking about the debate over
contraception and abortion funding. The religious right thinks the baby-killing-open-legged
left is waging a war on religious freedom. The progressive left thinks the missionary-position-only
right is waging a war on women’s reproductive freedoms. Either way, there’s
some kind of war being waged on someone (I guess?).
This strikes me as a dangerous choice on the part of the GOP
candidates. Having a strong position in this debate runs the risk of
ostracizing a large population of female swing voters in the general election
in an attempt to win over a majority of older republican voters in the primary.
To be fair, a recent poll shows that it hasn’t helped Obama as much as
expected. It also runs the risk of losing some of the youth vote. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of
Americans don’t think this is the conversation to be having.
So my question is this: what
issues would you press if you were running the campaign of a GOP candidate (let’s
say Romney or Santorum)? Would you continue to press the risky social issues,
or go after less polarizing issues like the economy?
My advice would be to stop going after Obama on the
reproductive matters. Keep talking about healthcare, but minimalize discussion
on denying contraception and abortion. My reasoning: Social issues might help
to win over some of the voters in the
primary, but it will tarnish your chances with quite a few swing voters, which
in turn affects the public’s perception of your electability. As November
nears, I think electability will become more important to the same voters that
you would pander to on social issues. The economy is also a viable target, but
recent statistics look to be *a little bit* promising for the Obama campaign.
Healthcare has been one place where Republicans have been able to argue with
the president both ideologically and practically without losing potential
voters because of divisive rhetoric.
I’d love to know your thoughts.
I recently read an article stating that Republicans have been running out of ways to put blame on Obama, mainly due to the recovering economy. The article backed your argument, saying that cultural issues, such as contraception, will only get you so far. It focused on the fact that rising oil prices are now being blamed on Obama (which is a strange argument since oil prices are set by the market.) Apparently, Gingrich has a brilliant plan that will reduce prices down to $2.50 a gallon. Not sure how that will work... Essentially, I agree with what you're saying and what the article outlined; social issues will only get you so far. But it's interesting to note that Obama's approval in polls is dropping as oil prices are rising: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57395703-503544/poll-obamas-approval-rating-sinks-to-new-low/. So maybe this is a line of argument that will work out, to some degree, for GOP candidates?
ReplyDeleteThe article I read (I don't know whether The Economist leans one way or another): http://www.economist.com/node/21550265