Au revoir, gender gap

With Election Day less than a week away, the buzz in Washington has turned to
likely voters and how they’ll cast their ballot next Tuesday. One group
generating attention this year is women.

As I wrote
earlier this month, it appears the gender gap is fading away. Now
new poll data released by both Pew and Gallup
reinforce this finding.

In a recent survey, Pew found white women favor Republicans by 20 points. And
among all likely female voters, respondents chose Republicans over Democrats
49-43.

Similarly, Gallup found likely female voters favoring Republicans over
Democrats 49-46. (The margin of error essentially eliminates any gap.)

The economy — which is the No. 1 issue for all voters this year — has trumped
the highly divisive abortion issue, which helps partially explain the shrinking
gap. More significant, however, is how Obama’s failed economic agenda has paved
the way for Republicans campaigning on tax relief, reforming entitlement
spending and closing the budget gap.

In response to this change in female voters, Michelle Obama has returned to the
stump for candidates like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). And the White House
has released a new report, “Jobs and Economic Security for America’s Women,”
which lays out what the administration has done for women — pointing to
legislative candy like the Lilly Ledbetter act aimed at improving equality in
the workplace.

But playing gender politics is how Democrats got into this mess in the first
place. Unless President Obama and Democrats start addressing the issues that
really matter to women — the size and scope of government, repealing and
replacing the healthcare law, extending the Bush-era tax cuts and eliminating
burdensome regulations that impede the growth of new business — they can wave
goodbye to the faithful women’s vote.