By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“A lot of people just depressed with what’s going on in the economy, period,” said Newark voter Deirdra Biggers.
Biggers says it’s tough out here — especially for women. She’s a single mom in Newark, who’s struggling to keep faith with the Democrats.
“Everyone’s saying they don’t know who they want to vote for. We’re all confused right now,” she said.
“They made promises and they didn’t keep their promises. You can’t just make a promise to somebody and don’t keep it,” said Regina Yarborough, another Newark voter.
In 2008, single women helped launch President Obama into the Oval Office. It’s a voting bloc that still carries significant electoral weight. Recent polls show unmarried women favor Democrats by more than 20 percent over Republicans, nationally.
But Newark’s Yarborough says, it’s tough to get New Jersey’s million and a half single women to the polls.
“Because I guess they been let down through the Democratic party by things that happened in the past,” she said.
The Voter Participation Center says candidates need to work harder to get women’s attention.
“These are folks who have busy lives,” said Voter Participation Center CEO Gail Kitch. “And when you want to appeal to them basically you have to appeal to them by speaking to things that are important in their lives.”
President Obama pushed those issues hard this past weekend, in a trip to Rhode Island, and in his Saturday address issues including equal pay, minimum wage and child care.
“More women are their families’ main breadwinner than ever before. So the simple truth is, when women succeed, America succeeds. And we should be choosing policies that benefit women because that benefits all of us,” Obama said.
Both Monmouth and Quinnipiac polls show that in New Jersey’s Senate race, Democrat Cory Booker leads Republican Jeff Bell by more than 20 points among women voters. Bell probably did not help his chances, when he said, “Single mothers particularly are automatically Democratic because of the benefits. They need benefits to survive, and so that kind of weds them to the Democratic Party.”
“I don’t think the comments are particularly helpful to women and to the Republican party,” said political analyst Jeanette Hoffman. “As a single mother myself, the reason why I’m Republican is because I think Republican policies offer a better opportunity for my children.”
“We don’t mooch off the government. You can’t judge and stereotype a group of people based on just one opinion,” said Newark voter Jessica Brown.
“And people are still waiting. Some people are still holding onto hope. But I think they’re kinda holding on to empty dreams,” Yarborough said.
Women voters do hear these last ditch appeals by President Obama and other Democrats, but analysts say many are suffering more from voter frustration than voter fatigue.