The Republican Party during the 2012 campaign season suffered from a gender gap problem. That is, the differences between men and women in their views regarding the Republicans and their candidates were so great that many women who turned away from the Republican Party and voted for Democratic candidates became the deciding factor in many national and state races. Exit polls show that nationally Democrats did well with females on the whole, but also with single women at the polls. Republicans tended to do well with married women, but mostly with white men on Election Day. However, female voters make up a majority of the voting population, and single women put Democrats over the top in many elections. For instance, single women helped President Obama defeat Mitt Romney.
There aren’t any exit polls available regarding the United States Senate race in Texas between Ted Cruz (R) and Paul Sadler (D) and how women voted in that election. Pollsters tend to conduct Election Day surveys on races that they consider to be competitive or worthwhile. Many did not think that Sadler had a chance in this race, as Texas is a Republican state that leans conservative on many economic and social issues. Therefore, pollsters just skipped this race.
Judging by this commercial, however, Cruz was not taking some votes for granted.
Based on the visual content of this commercial, do you think Cruz knew that the Republican Party had a gender gap problem? Do you believe that the Republican Party has a gender gap issue?
Politics Matters 