Colorado's Women Voters Expected To Make Impact In November Election
DENVER (CBS4) - CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd got hold of the final voter registration numbers early and they show there are more women voters in Colorado than men.
Thirty-six percent of those women are registered Democrats and 30 percent are registered Republicans, while a third are unaffiliated. Both campaigns in Colorado are aggressively pursuing the female vote.
In the air the battle for the female vote in Colorado has turned into an all out war.
"Women voters in Colorado, especially women voters in the Denver metro area, decide most elections and the outcome of those elections in Colorado," Republican pollster Lori Weigle said.
Three years ago Weigle's firm Public Opinion Strategies teamed up with a Democratic counterpart to study Walmart moms -- maybe the swing vote in swing states. In 2008 they went for Obama and in 2010 Republicans.
"Honestly, the national debt and problems with spending are something that they are placing as one of first things out of their mouth when they talk to us," Weigle said.
The Romney camp is appealing to them on economic issues and the Obama team on health issues. The Republican candidate is anti-abortion and against federal funding for contraception.
"Not only is he willing to not pay attention to the 47 percent, he's clearly not fashioning policies that are thinking about 51 percent of women in this country," Vicki Cowart with Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado said.
Two recent polls show Obama and Romney nearly tied among women, but Weigle says many women are still undecided.
"Women voters tend to be more open to more information," Weigle said. "They tend to weigh their choices very carefully, and therefore they don't lock in until far later in the campaign."
The women polled after this week's debate gave the president a slight advantage while watching the debate, but in follow-up discussions most called the debate a tie.
