Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg did polling and focus groups and found that unmarried women were favorable to Romney because they perceived Romney's five point plan to do that, after an empathic set-up! Sheesh, I know. But Romney did talk about the struggles of people.
The set up is important, says Greenberg, to catch our attention and help the audience focus on what he's going to say he will do for them. Obama did not engage these women, and clearly message them with his plan to help them.
In his research Greenberg found that the women DID NOT HEAR OBAMA telling them how he'd improve their lives! Right. "Did not hear" him deliver this message.
By contrast, they did hear Romney telling them he’d improve their lives.
Greenberg says he knows the path to victory:
the research also indicates a clear route to winning reelection... however.
Greg Sargent: Dem pollster delivers wake-up call to Obama
But he has to connect all that with the 47% comments.
....unmarried women didn’t respond to Obama’s vow to improve the economy — which they found lacking in a clear overarching message.
“They heard nothing there that was relevant to them.... They were not hearing about issues or problems or things that Obama would do that affect their lives....
They are the most stressed and stretched.”
Obama had been leading by 19 points in the unmarried women category. Too bad he didn't emphasize these economic hardships.
Besides a national survey he tested a message based on this which led him to believe Obama can get these women to support him again if he "fuses" he hardship message with the 47% comments by Romney.
Women apparently love the "We're in this together" values which the president has talked about many many times and needs to do it in the next debates!
The pollster actually tested a message with unmarried women and found 72% said this would make them "more likely" to be for Obama, just to hear him say this kind of thing:
When I look at our great challenges, I say, we’re all in this together. But the Republicans say, you are your own. Well that’s given us a country of just rich and poor and the well-connected using their power to get more tax cuts and breaks.
Well, we need to make our country work for the middle class again. Clean up lobbyists and big money. Let’s keep taxes low for the middle class and small businesses and use the budget to help the middle class by seriously investing in education, rebuilding America, and making sure Medicare is there.
Did not see any diary on this and thought it was interesting. Also seems to fit with
brooklynbadboy's diary who talks about Obama's losing white women without college education (not sure it's exact same group, but close?):
There Romney was leading 49 to 45. Now he's leading 63 to 31. These are the low information voters. These are the white ladies who work and don't follow politics online....
And BBB seems to agree with Greenberg's advice.
What that tells me is that these ladies not only want to hear about policy, they want to see a fighter who is going to go to the mat for them. These women are the ones who are going to have to rely on Social Security and Medicare since a huge number are unmarried. They don't need to see a President Obama nodding his head in agreement about cutting Social Security. These are the ladies that need WIC, Food Stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and they want someone to fight for these things.
~ brooklynbadboy