Gender pandering

Betsy Newmark points out that

Republicans don’t have near as big a woman problem as Democrats have a man problem.

As for that GOP problem, it is more complex than Democrats would concede. A late-August generic battleground poll from George Washington University had Republicans winning married women by 16 points; white, married women by 23 points. They were losing white, single women (most susceptible to the Democratic theme) by just two points.

The GOP’s overall woman deficit is caused primarily by minority women—losing by 85 points among black women and 57 points among Hispanic women. The GOP’s task in changing those numbers likely has far less to do with reproductive rights as it does immigration reform and outreach.

Democrats are too invested in this strategy to let up now. But if they lose the Senate in November, it will be in part because voters—men and women alike—expect more from a party than gender pandering.

Read more here.