Signaling that the Republican Party is getting serious about wooing women, the Washington Post reported Monday that the Republican National Committee is planning to recruit an army of volunteers who will court young female voters in Democratic-leaning suburban areas.
The co-chair of the RNC, Sharon Day, is slated to launch the “14 in ’14” program Monday in West Virginia, according to the Post, aiming to “sign up women who will commit 30 minutes per week in the 14 weeks before the election, making calls, recruiting other women, identifying voters and getting people to the polls.”
President Barack Obama carried female voters in 2012 — unmarried women in particular — and winning over that voting bloc could tip tough mid-term elections in the GOP’s favor.
“Women are a very important part of the electorate and the RNC is very serious about engaging,” Day told the Post. “The Democrats have relied on desperate attacks and we are going to aggressively work to correct the record and build relationships with women voters.”
Democrats tried to paint Republicans as indifferent to women’s struggles last week when the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have made it easier for women to sue for gender discrimination in wages, came up for a vote. Senate Republicans voted unanimously to block debate on the legislation and countered the Democrats’ offensive by highlighting a study that showed female staffers in the White House earn 88 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn.
