Michele Bachmann's "Female Problem"
January 06, 2012
By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter
From Christian Science Monitor: Why did Michele Bachmann's campaign crater?
Gaffes...defections...and - ta-da!
Women. You would think the only female candidate in the GOP race might attract a disproportionate share of woman voters. But Bachmann didn’t. According to an Iowa State University poll taken in late December, her vote share was about 7.2 percent with both genders.
Well, duh. Really? It shouldn't have surprised anyone. Anyone who knows anything about women, that is. But, gee, it's so gosh darn perplexing, say the shallow pundits and lazy marketers. After all, she's a mom! She's raised 23 foster kids! She looks good (but not too good.) Many women do like her...and (what they perceive as) her good Christian values.
Surely, what's not to like about any of that?
So, why didn't she get a lot more votes? Well, maybe - just maybe - because not all women think alike, even when we have things in common. Maybe - just maybe - we're interested in more than one (or two) issues. As one columnist noted, Bachmann kept saying the same thing, over and over. And - while a basic of media training is "stay on message" - people get bored with the same ol' same ol'. "Obama bad" - even if you believe it - doesn't tell you anything about the candidate's knowledge of foreign policy. Yeah, yeah, we've heard that! What else ya got?
Last, but certainly not least. Just because she's got girlie parts doesn't mean we don't knew stupidity and lying when we see it. (Yes, yes...I know. That's rather rude of me. But, c'mon. We can and must do better. Personally, I find Ms. Bachmann highly amusing when she's goes off into whopper-land and does that crazy eyes thing, but that's entertainment, not leadership.)
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