McCain, Obama Reaching Out to Female Voters

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who has been campaigning for John McCain, is planning a female-focused speaking tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. (By Charles Dharapak -- Associated Press)

Polling data suggest that women are more likely than men to hold unfavorable views of McCain and to say they support Obama over McCain. But a Pew Research Center survey in late May suggested that the Democratic nomination battle may have had consequences for Obama. That poll found Obama just slightly ahead of McCain among women, 47 to 42 percent, while the two were nearly even among men, 47 percent for Obama to 46 percent for McCain.

Democrats are now taking heart from a Gallup daily tracking poll, which shows Obama making greater gains among women than men since Clinton left the race. "Obama's lead among women has now expanded from five percentage points to 13, while his deficit among men has shrunk from six points to two," Gallup reported.

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund has started distributing material advertising that McCain supports overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, and has opposed federal funding for comprehensive sex education at home and family planning overseas. It has given the senator a zero percent lifetime voting rating on women's issues. And Obama is likely to include a new section on women's issues in his stump speech, Dunn said, now that "he has a very different opponent" than Clinton.

But while the two candidates differ sharply on issues such as abortion rights and family planning, both camps probably will focus on economic issues to appeal to women this fall. In separate interviews yesterday, supporters used identical language to discuss how McCain and Obama view rising gasoline prices.

"John McCain gets that it now costs $80 to fill up your minivan when it used to cost $40," strategy director Sarah Simmons said.

"When you spend $76 to fill up the tank of your minivan, that's real money," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), adding that when Obama talks about issues that matter to women, "that is really going to win them over and warm them to him."

McCain advisers said they plan to appeal to women in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, who may be easier to sway than male union members, and who probably will consider economic issues as more critical than questions about contraception.

"The best thing we can do for women voters in this country is secure the future," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a McCain backer and abortion opponent. "What we have is a group of politicians denying that we have significant problems ahead of us. We're in some tall weeds, and we need strong leadership to get us out of there."

As part of their outreach to women McCain's aides have started booking him on shows such as "The View" and "Ellen" -- "We're trying to figure out ways to highlight his feminine side," senior aide Mark Salter quipped last week -- but the GOP candidate's campaign still has a fairly masculine feel. While the senator's communication director, director of scheduling operations and national campaign co-chair are women, the top aides who usually travel with him are all men, and McCain has made an occasional comment that takes audiences aback, as he did during an appearance on "The Daily Show" when he referred to a 14-year-old who had questioned his position on equal pay as "a very attractive young woman."

Fiorina, who has spent years addressing female audiences, said she is confident that McCain could appeal to women on issues such as climate change and portable, private health insurance because "very few women who I've met are single-issue voters."

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), however, said McCain and his aides would be wiser to focus their attention elsewhere.

"I don't think these are folks that are going to go out and be for John McCain," she said of Clinton's backers. "Honestly, in the end I believe it will be a fool's errand."

Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.