Politics

A Ray of Hope

Why today was a good day for Barack Obama.

Every day until the election, Slate will offer up one reason to be optimistic for your candidate.

18 days to go:

Today’s Good News for Obama: After Mitt Romney’s bizarre “binders full of women” comment at last Tuesday’s debate, President Obama has been seizing the opportunity to remind voters of his own feminist-friendly, pro-choice policies. It appears to be working: In Pennsylvania, women prefer Obama to Romney 57 percent to 39 percent, and Obama leads among women nation-wide by about 8.5 percent. That’s no surprise, since women in swing states rank gender-related issues as their top priorities in choosing a candidate. Romney hasn’t been underperforming among women—he ranks about even with previous Republican presidential candidates—but his latest comment, combined with his murky record on women’s issues, has hurt his ability to close the political gender gap.

See Barack Obama’s earlier rays of hope.

See Mitt Romney’s earlier rays of hope.