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Saturday, February 9, 2008
Where do women voters stand
after Super Tuesday?
Andrea Cornell Sarvady, a left-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, responds.
Rebuttal
I confess that Andy wins on the “enthusiasm gap,” but I totally disagree with her conclusions. Yes, 15 million Democrats took part in the historic Super Tuesday primaries compared to 9 million Republicans.
But even though the media discusses discontent in the Republican ranks, what isn’t taken into account is that Republicans had a record-breaking turnout in many areas. In a telephone interview, Jo Ann Davidson, the Co-Chairman for the Republican National Committee (RNC) explained that despite the media’s view that there is “no interest or energy” in the Republican Party right now, they raised $30 million more than Democrats in 2007.
There is a great deal of interest and energy among Republicans - but also a great deal of frustration in the wake of Super Tuesday, especially among conservative women. Democrat women are getting lots of scrutiny, obviously, but there is so little attention on the Republican side, that the RNC doesn’t even know who its women voted for!
In the last election, 78 percent of all Republicans identified themselves as conservative and 60 percent prioritized values issues. But Romney and Huckabee split those votes in the all-important Super Tuesday primaries, leaving more moderates - and thus possibly the nomination — with McCain. And those moderates seem very happy with him as a candidate; it’s the conservatives who aren’t.
Most conservative women feel strongly about issues such as protecting the unborn, traditional marriage and religious speech. And they want to avoid big government and universal health care. But frankly, just as important is a sense of security with the candidate as a person they can trust to consistently look out for their beliefs in office. And so conservative women are very uneasy with someone like McCain, who has a famous hair-trigger temper and a record of inconsistency - and is so non-conservative that he almost left the Republican party.
So as much as Andy salivates at the prospect of new recruits, conservative women aren’t going to abandon their beliefs just to make history by electing the first female or black President. But from where I sit, there is a real risk that if they don’t have somewhere to put all their energy and their concern, they might sit out the election. If the GOP doesn’t want that, they’d better find a way to speak to those women. Fast.
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Commentary
By Andrea Cornell Sarvady
I had a little trouble voting the other day. In my excitement I neglected to insert the electronic voting card until it fully clicked into place. If the precinct volunteers noticed me frowning at the screen, lingering at the booth a little longer than necessary, they probably just thought, “Here we go again. Another female voter who can’t make up her mind.”
For women of both parties, last Tuesday’s ballot was enough to give anyone pause. Democrats were made giddy by their choices, happily asking themselves, “Which way do I want to help make history?” Republican women were also kicking around the candidates, for entirely different reasons— their choices felt more filled with compromise. The GOP offered them a hair-triggered straight-talker hated by his party’s base, a folksy preacher without a prayer and a Mormon flip-flopper with the visage of Reagan but none of the charisma.
In what Republican author Peggy Noonan rightly calls the “most confounding election cycle of our lifetime” we find Hillary Clinton branded as part of the staunch old guard and Ann Coulter threatening to campaign for her. Yet if you can see beyond the pummeling circus of spin, interesting new possibilities emerge. For instance, older women are indeed drawn to Hillary yet their younger peers are increasingly breaking ranks with the sisterhood, smitten with Barack Obama’s beyond-gender-and-race persona.
Democrats are still awash in identity politics—that’s what happens when you give more than one identity a seat at the table. Yet encouraging statistics show a vast majority of Democrats happy with either of their choices. Early exit polls garnered from 16 states showed that over 70 percent of Democrats said they would be satisfied if either Clinton or Obama wins the nomination.
I predict that when November comes, indecision will be owned by moderate Republican and Independent women. Disappointed by our Iraq policies, pro-choice to a degree—what Republican candidate speaks to their concerns? These women, tired of the personal vendettas, tired of the safe choices, tired of being tired, just might join Democrats in spurring change and making history. Maybe, just maybe, when they look at their options and consider their futures, something new will click into place.