Republicans and democrats came from one of the biggest collections of voters in the population. Women. In the last president ial race married women voted for mitt romney, single women for president obama. Education, wages, social mobility, student debt, they all land on american men and women in different ways which might explain why they vote differently. But does being female, are women, black or white, rural or urban, homeowners or renters, all those other things when they walk into the voting booth, too. Just as much as women. I dont want you to feel neglected. I like men just fine. President obama in rhode island was on a mission to woo the women. The idea that my daughters wont have the same opportunities as somebodys sons . Well, thats unacceptable. Thats not acceptable. [ cheering ] with the mid terms quickly approaching winning over women voters has been the focus for both parties. At fridays rallies obama praised their endurance in the slowly recovering economy. While women work hard to support themselves and their families, theyre still facing unfair choices. Outdated workplace policies. That holds them back, and it holds all of us back. In 2012, the majority of american women voted for the president. Although mitt romney won more married womens votes, the single womens vote is larger, giving democrats the boost they needed to win. But a recent tracking poll says that womens approval of the president is now essentially split right down the middle, and single women dont typically vote in mid terms. Republicans are seizing on that window of opportunity. Whats the difference between me and mark udall on contraception . I believe that the pill ought to be available over the counter. On average, women make 23,000 less than men. On the stump in iowa in one of the Toughest Senate contests of the term is joni ernst, one of the first women ever to represent iowa in congress. Thank you so much, god bless you. She calls herself a proud iowan, a mother, a farm girl, but she said shes not running on her gender, and she is ate not counting on women to propel her to office. This term i the economy is the issue on oh most womens minds. Wages since the Great Recession have stagnated, women are feeling it more than men. On average women working full time make 22 less than their male counterparts cooking to the 2013 census. Thats 0. 78 to every 1 for a man. Fewer women were unemployed, but 74 of women worked full time as opposed to 87 of men. Women and the Midterm Election this time on the program, if the voting preferences of women werent such an interesting marker, as we dissect the elections in campaigns, candidates would not be asking the same question famously put by sigmund freud. What does a woman want . Joining me for that conversation, marcy stetch the National Press secretary for emilys list. Hadley heath manning. And bill snyder is a distinguished senior fellow at the Organization Third way. Marcy stetch, let me start with you. What are the Top Priorities . When Public Opinion researchers go out and say to women, what are you voting about, what do you tell them . Well, women, 2014 is all about women. Women candidates and the issues that matter to women and families. What we know through our research and what we see happening on the campaign trail is that it all boils down to Economic Security for women. That means Economic Security for women in the form of raising the minimum wage, ending gender discrimination in pay, ending the gender wage gap that you referenced in your opening piece, and access to contraception, and Health Access for women and their families. Right now its been a volatile news cycle. Weve had topics coming up. People worried about National Security, Economic Security through and through has been the number one issue that women are clearly going to decide on tuesday. We do a lot of this research, and its motivating to women and many men voters, dropoff voters in 2014 when they hear about what is at stake in these elections. Hadley heath manning, how would you answer that same question . When you talk to your members about what they vote on, what do they tell you . I think its clear, ill agree with marcy, that the economy is the number one issue across the board. Thats true of both women and men. Also the way our federal government works. In a recent gallup poll, that was the second most important issue. There are concerns among women and men that our administration isnt showing the competency dealing with very complicated issues whether its threat to terrorist organizations or Public Health outbreaks. We see that security is an issue not just economically speaking but across the board, National Security also. Also high importance is jobs and job creation. All these issues come in among the front runners. Bill snyder in the craft in the way we do politics in this country, is it even rational to look at women as a discrete block of voters . They are so many different kinds of americans in so many different places and circumstances. Is there a set of issues . Are there questions that you could ask them that would unite them around interests . Well, women have tended to support democrats ever since Ronald Reagan became president in 1981. The reason is democrats have made an issue of protecting the safety net. Women are inclined to favor strong safety net more than men. Men tend to be risk takers. Other constituencies who valley the government safety net tend to be inclined to vote democratic. Poor people, labor union members. They want the government to be there because they dont feel as economically secure as men do. Hadley heath manning, is that just a different way of saying what you just said. When theyre concerned about the government they want it to work and do what its meant to do with the money that its given to spend. I would agree with bill that women are more likely to support more social safety nets but what weve seen is a departure from the definition of social safety net for people who are indigent, people who are too poor to care for themselves, using the rhetoric about social safety nets to apply to other economic policies that may not have to do with caring for the poor, but are code words or trojan horses for economic redistribution. Which is a different kind of economic policies separate from creating a social safety net and strengthening the safety net for those who need it most. Thats why women are skeptical of a liberal agenda, and their votes are up for grabs. Do you have something that is that social trojan horse that becomes a longterm kind of dependency rather than a safety net . One of the biggest issues we see in polling continues to be Health Reform. And Health Reform is impacting women and men as individuals and families and very different ways across the country. Its a very complicated issue. But many women are feeling that theyve gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to obamacare and the Affordable Care act, because despite some of the promises that it made to women and some of the benefits that the administration touts that this legislation legislation has for women, there is a down side. Some women in their families are seeing higher costs. Some women in their families might experience a Health Insurance policy cancellation or had a relationship with a doctor interrupted because of that insurance change. That created instability in womens lives and they recognize this new social program may not be as much about helping the poor as they thought or helping people with preexisting conditions, but instead is an entire restructuring of our insurance industry. Marcy stech, when you say safety net, do we have to be talking about all the same things . Is the Affordable Care act in there or Something Else . Absolutely. Access to healthcare is an incredibly important issue for women and families across the country. And what i think is interesting when we talk about women and access to healthcare, we look at Something Like access to contraception, which is something that has been a political issue over the past election cycle because weve seen republicans time and time again defund planned parenthood repeal on the you act. Birth control is only an issue if youve ever had to pay for it. And women in the country know saving that money in their pocketbook and having access to contraception is beneficial to themselves and their families. We talk about the entire host of issues when it comes to access to healthcare, but its not only that. Its access to healthcare for their families. Women are becoming more and more the majority of the bread winners in their families. So these are the issues that really matter to them. Thats why theyre looking at republicans versus democrats. Democrats are 100 clear where they stand on this issue. Republicans want to roll back the clock. That is the contrast that voters, women voters are facing as they go into tuesday. Roll back the clock, other candidates are careful not to go there. Are they reading polls. What theyre trying to do is steer the election away from those Social Security issues and more towards the administration. I think hadley was exactly right when she said that for most women and for most voters the issue is the confidence of this administration. President obama, if you follow this election, youre reading in the newspaper a new story. One story says support for the democrats among latinos is at a low point. Just barely the majority or 57 theres. But thats down. Support among women is lower than it used to be. Support among young people. There was a poll from harvard that showed a majority of young voters say they want a republican congress. When you see women, minority, latinos, support ebbing it means that its not distinctive to women or young people. Its happening across the country. Its a real loss of confidence in this administration. Well be back with more inside story after a short break in this most recent election. Republican candidates, even ones with long records of social conservatives have muted their access to Family Planning or quieted that emphasis in their campaigns. Is it working to close the gender gap . Stay with us. Arrested. Ground breaking. Theyre firing canisters of gas at us. Emmy Award Winning investigative series. New episode the disappeared only on Al Jazeera America were getting your women out. All campaign say both, but i want to dig a little deeper into that question. Hadley manning, in colorado weve seen republican candidate whose historically been cosponsor of a person hood amendment, wanting to bring Legal Protection and state interest to a fetus in the womb. Support for various programs that have been judged to make access to contraception more difficult. Hes chosen during this campaign to deemphasize that part of the record, not talk about those issues. Is that something that is being done on purpose in part to make the election about Something Else, and not make it about those issues . Well, i would say, i believe the race youre referring to is the senate race here between representative cory gardner and mark udall. And in that race, you know, like so many other races across the country, the issues that voters care most about are still the economy and jobs. But instead more than half of the advertisements that the udall campaign has run have been about the contraception issue, and specifically about the mandate that marcy was talking about earlier, that women have contraceptive coverage for all fda contraceptives with no copay. That in particular is what gardner opposes. But in some ways he got ahead of the issue by coming out in favor of the over the counter bit control option. This creates and fosters what true access means versus affordability, who pays and other questions. I think the Gardner Campaign has been largely focused on the issues that the voters care about, and the intensity of the voters will be on the side of gardner. While gardner has been able to neutralize a gender gap on the female side, mark udall is facing a steep gender gap with men. That may be a determining factor this election. This is an economic issue for women and families. I see that happening in colorado. If you look at any of these polls right now, women overwhe overwhelmly support senator udall because they trust him more than they trust cory gardner on these issues. Cory gardner made an interesting move. He was one of the first this come out in favor of overthecounter Birth Control. This was a sign that they knew that they were in trouble with women, and they had to offer something. This happening in an electionier, it shows how they want to cherry pick something that sounds good, but the actual policy implications of overthecounter Birth Control puts the cost, the burden of costs on women and family. It may make a nice talking point for cory gardner, but in the end women voters are going to see right through that. I was looking at some of the early numbers. There are extreme enthusiasm for democrats right now. 77 of people who say theyre going to vote for mark udall said because hes on the right side of women and families, these are women and family issues why colorado. Thats why hes getting their support right now. But whenwasnt there a risk of being outflanked . Wasnt there a risk of having that issue neutralized when the candidate for the other party said no, im not against these things. I want access, and i want it in fact, no more prescription, no no more difficulty at the pharmacy. I want women to be able to get this, and it takes it away as an issue. I think we would want th the exper experts to make the decision, not cory gardner. Experts believe if we want to have an entire conversation about access to healthcare and access to contraception for women, it should not be focused on one little piece of it, which is this over the counter. Yes we would like to expand healthcare to contraception to women, but it needs to be done in a holistic fashion. We peeling the Affordable Care act is not going to be productive for women and families. Thats what cory gardner stands for. He would also ban certain types of Birth Control. Hes trying to wiggle away from his record. The Affordable Care act is a fairly complex and broad bill, but this is one aspect of it that falls more heavily on women than on men. Unique among men. If youre going to do Heart Disease or lung disease, both men and women have hearts and lungs, but only women have wombs. Has this an secured the Affordable Care act, yes or no . An Affordable Care act working or not. Republicans are not doing what we expect them to do. Theyre not repealing the Affordable Care act. Theyre not making a big issue of it. Democrats like udall are facing a backlash if they continue to insist on talking about issues for many voters this is distracting for many i, such as where are the jobs . There will be more inside story after this short break. Women are earning more fouryear degrees than men. Theyre entering classes in professional schools are slightly more female after being overwhelmingly male throughout american history. Will changes in society and the economy dampen or heighten the way men and women see the country. Stay with us. Youre watching inside story on Al Jazeera America. Im ray suarez. Although there are more women than men, and more women voters than men, the majority state legislator, governors, mayors, members of congress are men. As women continue their steady gains in school and the workplace, will more women run for office . Still with us marcy stech, and bill snyder is a distinguished senior fellow at the Organization Third way, weve been covering politics long enough to lift through several years of the women. If they go at this rate, i think it will be 2250 before its 50 50. I dont think we want to wait until 2250 until its 50 50. What brings women on the side line to run. Are men willing to vote for women than they were 25 years ago . I think the answer is yes, and that coo be tested in the next president ial election. There are more women running in the senate and house than there were in the past. You have to get women to want to do those things. They have to want to run for office. You have to recruit them, and more of them if he confident to run for office, as they gain status in money and the workplace. More and more bread winners in families are now women. There was a pew poll that showed the number of women bread winners who earn more income than men do in families has been growing. And for those women, the economic inequality, the pay gap, those differences make a difference. Is there a nice spread in whose getting attention among women campaign, womens campaigning for Higher Office . I believe so. I believe that there are a lot of formidable candidates men and women on both sides of the aisle in this years elections. I would caution against a policy goal or a cultural societal goal of having each profession represented by 50 men and 50 women. That kind of measurement of outcops or that kind of parity is not necessarily indicative of the different choices and different preciouses that men and women make. E to remember thatmember that men and women are working in society and government together our interests are tied and regardless of sex we can work in this country. I dont feel that im better represented by someone in government who shares my same sex. Men can respec represent the interests of women. I would encourage more women to run for office, but i w