Jim Mone/Associated Press - Sarah Palin, right, waves to the crowd as she appears at a campaign rally for Rep. Michele Bachmann on April 7 in Minneapolis.
“It’s like the quiet women who never said anything coming out of the woodwork,” she said.
A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that Republicans have warmed to the idea of a female president since 2007, when Clinton was vying for the Democratic nomination. That year, more than 20 percent of GOP men and women said they would be less likely to support a candidate who was a woman. In May of this year, 5 percent of men and 12 percent of women gave that response.
Kellyanne Conway, a GOP pollster, said conservatives generally do not like identity politics and tend to say they are not considering a candidate’s sex or race in their decision. Republican women historically have not shown a greater propensity to vote for women than men, Conway said. But voters increasingly are looking for candidates to whom they can personally relate, and Palin and Bachmann fit the bill for an energized base of Republican women, she said.
“While other male politicians were building their careers, these women were making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Conway said. “The populist appeal is right for these times, when people identify with a much more mainstream, non-Ivy League-educated, entrepreneurial, mother-of-five candidate.”
She added that voters no longer view female candidates only through the lens of women’s issues such as abortion, health care and Social Security. And recent gains by female GOP candidates have come at a moment when war and the economy have dominated discussions.
Palin and Bachmann share some key characteristics, including their popularity in tea party circles, their overtly Christian rhetoric and their sharp tongues. They also share a groomed attractiveness that Republican voters like, according to Conway, because it suggests that the candidates are proud of their femininity.
“They look like the homecoming queens, but they talk like Ronald Reagan. Who wouldn’t want that combination?” Conway said.
Bachmann has said repeatedly that Palin is a friend and that she does not view the former Alaska governor as a direct electoral threat. The two appeared at a Minneapolis rally last year that was attended mostly by women, bounding up to the stage to the backdrop of Martina McBride’s “This One’s for the Girls,” according to media reports.
Bachmann has said her priority as president would be to repeal the health-care overhaul law, and she did not promote herself as a “woman candidate” during her Memorial Day New Hampshire trip. But she is often introduced at public appearances as the first GOP woman to represent Minnesota in the House, and she highlights her role as a biological mother of five and a foster mother of 23.
In her public appearances on Memorial Day, Bachmann, wearing a black sundress and cropped yellow sweater, was greeted emotionally by women.
“I’m honored to meet you. I’m a mom of seven myself,” one woman told her.
“Thanks for being tough but being feminine and gracious as you do it,” said another.
After Bachmann’s remarks at the GOP picnic here, Ouimette embraced the representative and, their faces just inches apart, told her, “You’re an awesome woman.” When they separated, Ouimette continued to hold the congresswoman’s hand as they spoke. Finally, Bachmann headed for the door.
“Bye, girls!” Bachmann said, giving Ouimette’s arm one last squeeze. “Love ya! See you later!”
Polling analyst Peyton Craighill contributed to this report.
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