Republicans’ Women Strategy: Less Policy, More Patronizing

An NPR piece today dissects the
GOP’s “attempt to appeal to women.” It’s not doing Republicans
any favors.

The efforts, according to Republican National Committee (RNC)
Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski, began after Mitt Romney lost the
women’s vote to Barack Obama by 11 percentage points in the 2012
election. Since then, the RNC and other big Republican groups have
been working together to better engage with women voters, she
says. 

Burning Glass Consulting firm was hired explicitly to help
Republicans message to women. Here’s an ad, “Dear
Daughter,” that Burning Glass created to this aim. Note that it
doesn’t really say how Republicans will address issues relevant to
women, but it does direct complaints about Obama to a hypothetical
daughter. (GOP messaging tip #1: Ladies like when you
acknowledge that the female sex exists.)

McMorris Rodgers, who heads the House Republican Conference,
says Republicans talking to women need to remember to put policy
prescriptions in terms of how they will effect women’s families.
(GOP messaging tip #2 Less facts, more
emotion.) 

Katie Packer Gage, head of Burning Class Consulting, tells NPR
that if Republicans want women to listen, “they need to stop
bombarding them with data and focus on day-to-day concerns. Don’t
talk about energy; talk about gas prices. Don’t talk about
Obamacare; talk about getting to see your doctor.” (GOP messaging
tip #3: Women are myopic idiots.) 

Gage tells candidates, “If you can demonstrate some compassion
for people in general, even if it isn’t specific to women, women
respond to that.” (GOP messaging tip #4: Don’t be
sociopaths.) 

The RNC has also launched
an initiative, “14 in ’14,” which involves sending Republican
women ages 21 to 40 door-to-door in swing states to talk with other
women. It’s perhaps the one part of the RNC’s women strategy that
seems well-conceived, as long as it can keep female volunteers far
away from the GOP messaging strategists.