GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is trying to close the gender gap with a new television ad that claims President Obama’s policies are bad for women.
The ad, entitled “Dear Daughter,” shows a mother holding her infant daughter, as a voiceover proclaims, “Obama’s policies are making it harder on women.” The narrator says the poverty rate for women is the highest in 17 years, and more than 5.5 million women are unemployed.
The ad, which was officially released on Tuesday, also points to a non-gender-specific issue, the national debt, calling it another way Obama has failed women.
“Your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000, and it grows every day,” the voiceover says. “That’s what Obama’s policies have done for women.”
Both campaigns have been making a play for women voters in recent weeks as national polls show Romney falling behind Obama among female voters.
The scuffle for the female vote comes on the tail of controversy early this year over a mandate included in Obama’s 2010 health care law that requires employers, regardless of their religious affiliation, to cover contraception for employees. Both sides have accused the other of waging a “war on women.” Democrats point to Republican opposition to government-subsidized birth control and abortion rights; Republicans claim Obama’s economic policies have disproportionately hurt women.
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