Amid their electoral defeats at the hands of women during their War on Women, Republicans are now being sent to school for “messaging against women.” This type of Republican message outreach hasn’t worked so well for the GOP in the past.
Remember that, after the attacks on September 11, 2001, as some Americans turned to Muslim-hating, President George W. Bush tried Muslim outreach. The results weren’t too spectacular, as we saw an attempt to have a “Bikers Against Muslims” rally just last September 11. Fortunately, what was billed as “Two Million Bikers to DC” turned out to be more like two dozen.
Then in 2010, Karl Rove suggested that Republicans should be sent to messaging “war college” on Medicare. This was at a time when Republicans were being hurt by Paul Ryan‘s Republican House budget, which planned to do away with Medicare as we know it and replace it with vouchers. Rove’s idea wasn’t to change the Republicans’ Medicare-killing policy, only the way the GOP talked about their policy.
In the 2012 elections, Republicans lost the race for the White House and seats in both the U.S. Senate and House, largely because blacks, Latinos, Asians and women voted heavily Democratic. The GOP War on Women was in full force for 2012, including Todd Aiken‘s “legitimate rape,” Mitt Romney‘s “binders full of women,” Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a “slut,” and more. As a result, President Obama beat Mitt Romney among women by 11 points on Election Day.
After the GOP defeat in 2012, Republican Party Chairman Reince Preibus distributed a GOP “autopsy report.” The autopsy report referred to voter impressions of the Republican Party as “scary,””narrow-minded,” “out of touch,” “stuffy old men,” and called for a softer tone on cultural issues, many of which have turned women against the GOP. However, since the autopsy report was published, some Republicans have doubled down on the War on Women. Therefore, one fairly can be skeptical that a new Republican effort to talk to women will have much effect.
Ultimately, Republicans have two big problems with such “outreach” efforts. First, American voters seem aware that these GOP efforts are a transparent attempt to paper over policies that really do harm women and other minorities. Second, the Republican Party’s strategy has been to fire up its narrow base by appealing to their fears and hatreds. Any attempt to scale back such hate appeals could result in even less support for the GOP and send the Republican Party further into a death spiral.
