This is called stating the obvious.
A detailed report commissioned by two major Republican groups — including one backed by Karl Rove — paints a dismal picture for Republicans, concluding female voters view the party as “intolerant,” “lacking in compassion” and “stuck in the past.”
Women are “barely receptive” to Republicans’ policies, and the party does “especially poorly” with women in the Northeast and Midwest, according to an internal Crossroads GPS and American Action Network report obtained by POLITICO. It was presented to a small number of senior aides this month on Capitol Hill, according to multiple sources involved.
Don’t cry for the Republicans, though. They have a plan to connect more deeply with women…I think it involves vaginal probes and yelling loudly at them.
I can see the Republican political response to this issue now; roll back universal suffrage! Why bother connecting to women voters or immigrant voters or black voters, or any of the many groups they hate and despise for that matter – just deny the vote to everyone other than middle class, middle aged, white, cis/het, xian men and the Repubs will be golden at pretty much any election.
Sadly, I find it very likely indeed that there are any number of Republicans who would in all seriousnes propose that policy, at least behind closed doors and away from microphones. I fear greatly for what the next Republican administration will do in the US, and indeed to the world at large, if they think they can get away with it.
Yeah well everybody expects them to control both houses of congress come January. So I don’t really understand why everybody thinks they’re in such deep trouble. They win elections.
Or just declare women voting to be fraud, like minorities.
The response to this by some on the far right is not to reassess policies, but to call for the end of women’s suffrage! Because if women want to vote for the “wrong” side, they obviously don’t know how to properly participate in a democracy…
@ Gregory Greenwood
Those policies already exist in a bunch of places; they’re just couched in voter fraud language as Trebuchet said.
Ah, I see comments 1 and 3 already raise my point. Like Vox Day, I claim it as an original idea, and demand that you cite me in future…
cervantes@2,
Really? Real Clear Politics currently has the two parties neck-and-neck in their assessment of the contest for control of the Senate. That’s worrying enough.
Require photographic penis ID verification, that’ll stop them uppity womens from votin’
the new visual style is fine with me, but having to click through to read a single paragraph is incredibly annoying, especially on a mobile device. please stop.
Nate Silver has it 60:40 for Republican control. RCP isn’t laying odds.
When I first read reports about the study, my first reaction was, “No shit, Sherlock!”
It still baffles me that the republicans get the level of support that they do, given their clear anti-populist actions.
They assure us that they will make real changes… to the survey.
Republicans have conducted similar surveys in the past. They already knew their asses were grass when it came to women voters.
The problem is that they never learn. One of their more recent ploys was to put more Republican women out front to tout the usual toxic policies that are bad for women. They seem to think that women don’t care about policy, they just want to be talked to more nicely by Republican women.
Republicans voted against legislation meant to put some teeth in laws requiring fair pay. Some of them, like Mitch McConnell, campaigned with ads saying they supported equal pay, when they, in fact, voted against it.
Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed 67 bills to restrict abortion in 2013-2014. Anti-abortion shows up in bills like this:
S. 813: Peace Corps Equity Act of 2013
H.R. 567: State Health Flexibility Act of 2013
H.R. 4903: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act
S. 1372: Department of State, Foreign Operations
H.R. 2300: Empowering Patients First Act of 2013, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year
They seldom name the bills in a way that actually reflects their goals. But occasionally they do:
H.R. 7: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2014
H.R. 1797: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
H.R. 4698: Every Child is a Blessing Act of 2014
H.R. 217: Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
S. 777: A bill to restore the previous policy regarding restrictions on use of Department of Defense medical facilities.
Women, don’t vote for Republicans unless you are really itching to have your rights restricted.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/subjects/abortion/5897
Explicitly removing the vote from African-Americans was not needed to achieve a significant degree of disenfranchisement, they simply rigged the criminal justice system to disproportionately convict and jail black people. Most states prevent criminals/ex-cons from voting so, job done.
There’s one thing lots of women do (which almost no men are involved with) which republicans have spent a great deal of effort attempting to criminalise recently, so systematic disenfranchising of women is not as far-fetched as some might think.
Damn. I want a job making lots of money telling people obvious things they aren’t going to believe or act on anyway.
Now, please get a real opposition on the Left. Pull that Overton window back.
Admittedly, I haven’t dug into the data, but there seems to be a major diconnect with posts like this, and for instance, a post by Digby yesterday basically saying that Democrats expect to lose the Senate in November. Women are a major voting force …. they don’t like Republicans … but Republicans are likely going to win the Senate. Can someone with their fingers and head on the numbers explain this in the comments?
When confronted with the fact that Republicans are unpopular with women (and non-whites, and young voters), Republicans often claim that these demographics have been duped by pandering Democrats. Rather than look at their own policies, they seem to think patronizing disrespect is a meaningful approach.
Well, the proper response would be to keep saying there is no War on Women. Then continue pushing the ideas that Christians are being persecuted and that minorities are the real racists.
Somehow the “Vote for us godammint, you stupid wimmenz!” campaign is not bringing in the votes or support the way they hoped it would. Go figure.
What I cannot wrap my head around, as so many things I read on this blog, is how republicans get elected at all, given that they antagonize women, blacks, latinos, LGBTs and probably some others that do not come to my mind.
Just women alone are a huge segment of society. Not to mention the fact that they probably repel a large portion of white males.
Yet they get elected.
Republicans also win because of gerrymandering.
For any readers here interested in getting big money out of politics, which is another part of the problem, Lawrence Lessig’s Mayday Pac won its first victory yesterday.
It was Aaron Swartz who convinced Lessig to dedicate his life to this fight. It is heartening, after Swartz’s suicide, to see the dream taking shape.
@funknjunk #17
Re: Republican control of the Senate
Nate Silver is pretty well respected as an analyst. If you look at this blog entry over at fivethirtyeight.com, it helps clarify things:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/republican-gop-senate-forecast/
According to Silver, the race is actually pretty close and the numbers might change some as the election nears. Even so, the primary reason the Republicans are likely to win more seats is because many of the seats that are up for grabs this time around, the “Class II” senatorial seats “…aren’t being fought in neutral territory.”
From http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/republican-gop-senate-forecast/
“The problem for Democrats is that this year’s Senate races aren’t being fought in neutral territory. Instead, the Class II senators on the ballot this year come from states that gave Obama an average of just 46 percent of the vote in 2012.”
Considering Obama’s low approval rating, the Republicans ought to be doing much better. It’s not like 2010 where the Republicans swept the congressional elections thanks (in part) to voter outrage over the haggling over health care. Their message, *whatever it is*, at least in 2014, is not a rallying cry for voters.
Tim
Republican, of whatever gender, speaking publicly:
Same republican, with advisors in private:
Really, it’s enough to make one gag.
Despite their low popularity, the GOP wins via a combination of:
(1) gerrymandering – the average GOP person in office had fewer votes cast for them than the average Dem in office.
(2) disenfranchisement of people who vote Democrat – people of color, poor people, women
(3) flat-out lying and theft
(4) apathy on the part of leftist voters, especially when coupled with
(5) enthusiasm on the part of right-wing voters.
Gregory Greenwood @1:
Well, of course! The Founding Fathers (pause reverently for worship) knew best!
Lynna @13:
You know, there are some issues where I think Republicans are being disingenuous, but I think here they genuinely are baffled. They really do think that the “some of my best friends are black” defense is a valid substantive argument.
Democrats occasionally fall prey to this, too, like in 2004 when they decided that the best way to refute criticisms of being “weak on defense” was not to engage on the substance but to nominate candidates with good military records and expect that Republicans would just shut up then.
Sunday Afternoon:
It’s the patriarchally-religious. That’s why the “sane” Repubs don’t dare jettison the religious Wingnut Right.
–
funknjunk
Wide-spread voter apathy outside of those who vote as a “religious duty”, who are authoritarianly-inclined anyway (and vote the way they’re told to vote, by their husbands or their pastors).
Wide-spread voter apathy on the part of those left and middle who cynically perceive that the game is rigged, only The Money will win, The Democrats Are Just As Bad, and therefore, why put themselves to the inconvenience of waiting in line to achieve nothing?
Plus, the Repubs have gerrymandered the hell outa the voting districts, when they were re-drawing them.
–
“Explicitly removing the vote from African-Americans was not needed to achieve a significant degree of disenfranchisement, they simply rigged the criminal justice system to disproportionately convict and jail black people. Most states prevent criminals/ex-cons from voting so, job done.”
I’ll never be able to wrap my head around this. In my country that would be blatantly unconstitutional. The right to participate in the political process is a fundamental right of the people and cannot be taken away no matter what crime they’ve committed (though someone convicted of certain crimes committed while holding public office may be barred from running to other offices).
Esteleth @25, I would add to your list:
Republicans have a huge chunk of radio, TV and internet media set up to bolster their false and/or misleading claims. I have friends who are sort of liberal, but who are surrounded by so many people repeating Fox News, Alex Jones, and Drudge Report sludge that they begin to repeat it themselves. Republicans even have some supposedly neutral media sources carrying water for them.
You might also want to add to your list that conservatives like it so much when their leaders get into trouble, that, for example, “Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) support among Hawkeye State Republicans went up seven points after he was indicted on two felony counts.” That’s what happens when you harbor an irrational anti-government-all-the-time ideology. Republican politicians repeatedly get away with criminal, stupid, or unethical acts and are lionized for them.
Just today, Politico came out with a headline that reads “Dems paint GOP as shutdown party.” Republicans did shut down the government last year, and the far right House and Senate Republicans are all making noises about shutting it down again after the current funding bill expires on September 30. Dems are not painting the picture, Republicans are painting it themselves. They are especially exercised over the possibility of President Obama taking some action to ease Immigration policy problems.
They get a twofer when it comes to immigration policy, being anti-immigrant and anti-woman. Republicans have always added misogyny to their anti-immigration stance:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/doj-immigration-court-domestic-violence-asylum-conservative-backlash
Indeed, daemonis (@28). In Israel current prisoners vote. Heck, the one person who really should have lost the right to vote, Yigal Amir, got to vote. Let alone former prisoners that have ‘paid their debt to society’.
I’ll just note that when Republicans do shut down the government, that action disproportionately affects women and minorities.
More on the shut-down fever building in the Teahadist ranks of the Republican Party:
Daily Kos link.
MSNB link.
The Atlantic link.
Republicans also plan to revive efforts to impeach President Obama after the midterm elections, when they are less likely to be punished by voters. Maddow Blog link.
So yeah, if Democrats fail to show up to vote during the midterm elections we could have a Republican-dominated Senate (and House, of course) that will vote to impeach the President, and/or they will shut down the government to prevent immigration or climate legislation. They’ll also fuck with abortion access some more.
Require photographic penis ID verification, that’ll stop them uppity womens from votin’
Are you sure you want Anthony Weiner back in public service? Because he’d vote for himself over and over again…
Nice of him to admit the scale and majority targets’ gender of the problem with intimate-partner violence. Why do I doubt he meant to do that?
Based on the picture, it seems clear that the solution to the problem is flags. Lots and lots of flags. The more flags, the more votes. Brilliant, isn’t it?
Did Boehner get a working man spray-tan? ‘Cuz compared to the rest of the guys in that picture he looks mighty dark. Perhaps he should put on a bit of clown white before his next photo-op. Actually, they’d all look better in clown white with red noses.
Women are a major voting force …. they don’t like Republicans … but Republicans are likely going to win the Senate. Can someone with their fingers and head on the numbers explain this in the comments?
Because not all Senate seats are equally likely to be won by both sides. It’s been known for a few years that this coming election cycle was going to be difficult for Democrats, regardless of anything else that was happening because:
1. Of the Senate seats up for grabs, there are more safe Republican ones than Democratic ones.
2. Several of the existing seats held by Democrats that are up for re-election are in states where the voting pattern suggest Republicans have a greater chance of winning. There are far fewer that are the reverse (a Republican held seat in a state that is trending Democratic).
For instance if you look at the nine seats currently considered toss ups, there are three that are open (no incumbant). Two of the three were held by Democrats. Of the other 6, there’s 5 Democrats at risk and only one Republican.
Not to say this is written in stone: Claire McCaskill was a Democrat who everyone considered utterly doomed until her opponent decided to define “legitimate rape”.
Quite frankly, I don’t think the Republicans appeal much to any people unless they’re incorporated.
Since the number one issue is jobs and the economy among both men and women, how come restricting abortion, opposing gay marriage and the expansion of healthcare gets the GOP votes when their true agenda is upward transfer of wealth by crushing the lower and middle classes?
yeah, while everyone is whinging about the fact that the GoP is not woman friendly (as in, duh, indeed), I hope you all noticed another part of the article:
so… the GoP is using women’s issues as a distraction, because they KNOW all the freaking gerrymandering they did in 2010 will guarantee them victories for the next 20 years.
America, wake up. You haven’t had a democracy for a very long time now.
…I see Lynna, as usual, is all over the problems the midterm elections are likely to create.
awesome. :)
Literally every place I go where their are TVs in Fox News is playing all day long. It’s in the hospitals, dentist offices and some fast food restaurants. Church is still the hub of many people’s social and family life and they are nearly all fundamentalist churches. Politics and religion are so tight knit here that I’ve heard conservative politics from the pulpit and at funerals. The stars and bars still fly here. Unemployment is up. Plants are closing. Creationism and climate change denial are still the norm. On the local nonreligious radio, the DJ’s make jokes about how women don’t cook enough home cooked meals for their men anymore. One fakes a lisp and this is funny because he sounds gay…ha…ha.
That’s how these people win elections. That’s mainstream America in many places.
Argh…when will I learn to preview?
very true.
I started noticing it when I went to gyms. no matter what gym I went to, anywhere in CA, they were playing fox news on the tvs.
what’s REALLY weird?
It happened at the first gym I went to here in NEW ZEALAND as well.
I have to think that the people behind the propaganda machine that is Fox News have paid well to have the downstream distributors favor airing their programs.
might not be a lot even, but apparently it’s enough to tip the scales.
and, sadly, it’s my opinion that this propaganda machine has succeeded beyond anything they themselves could have possibly imagined.
I think that was called ChatRoulette.
Also with this woman in the Northwest.
The VA hospital used to play FOX news in the waiting areas where they had TV’s but not any more makes me much more comfortable while I wait.
uncle frogy
@cervantes #2
Republicans have a better than even chance at the Senate this year because many of the seats up for election are held by Democrats in red states who won in the 2008 wave. The map changes in 2016. To have a chance at the presidency, the GOP must address the gender gap, but the attitudes of their base makes this difficult.
Obama is expected to take executive action on immigration soon. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on Republican messaging. The base wants to impeach.
@Preston at 47
Seems to me that Republicans are okay with losing the Presidential election but put a lot of effort into capturing the Congress where they can obstruct anything that a Democratic President tries to get done. I don’t see them winning the Presidency for a while given that they cannot get the Black, Latino, Asian or Jewish vote. Even with White males voting 65% for Romney, Obama won easily in 2012.
Not sure which of the prospective Republican nominees can beat Secretary Clinton. She’s flawed but I would fear a Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich or God forbid Sarah Palin presidency much more.
Rand seems to be skyrocketing in the polls again.
but you’re right, just like with the last elections, the Rethuglicans simply can no longer field a candidate that has true national appeal. This is the corner they have painted themselves into.
Ergo, expect ever more dirty tricks, every more attempts at passing statutes to disenfrachise people who don’t vote they way the rethugs want them to, ever more attempts to paint the democrats as “sabotagin” elections as a not so subtle means of projecting attention away from their own attempts to do so.
it’s just gonna get worse. It’s obvious they are going down kicking and screaming all the way.
the damage they have done is already obvious. Government shutdown?? what the bloody hell?
The base is authoritarian, ignorant, and delusional.
This is the problem the GOP themselves created when courting such people for the last 40 years.
I wish they would just eat themselves and get it over with, but no… everyone else in the world must suffer while they miss in attempts to shoot themselves in the head repeatedly.