Obama and Romney were tied at 49 percent in a recent Hamilton JournalNews/Ohio News Organization poll.
Women remain firmly behind Obama, with 55 percent supporting the president against 44 percent who said they support the Republican nominee, according to the poll. Democrats have pushed a “war on women” narrative during the campaign, arguing that Romney’s stance on social issues puts him at odds with most women.
“Mitt Romney will take us back to the failed policies of the past… raising taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his tax cuts for the very wealthy, slashing education funding and turning Medicare into a voucher program,” said Jason Pitt, spokesman for Obama for America in Ohio. “He turned his back on the iconic auto industry, and on the American worker, and now he is trying to cover it up by running TV ads in Ohio that are blatantly untrue. If the American people can’t trust his words now, they certainly could never trust him with the presidency.”
Many of the women at the event said the economy and jobs were their main concerns and that the “war on women” rhetoric from the Democratic Party was not true.
“I’m a small business owner,” said Nancy Tereba of Liberty Twp. “We built our business and we sacrificed greatly. It’s unfathomable that someone would want to take this away from us.”
Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor told Wednesday’s crowd that 400,000 women have lost their jobs in the past four years.
Between January 2009 and March 2012, there was a net decline of 740,000 jobs for men and women, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of that amount, 683,000 or 92.3 percent affected women in this net decline of jobs.
As a single mother, Jennifer Miller of Bridgetown, said she’s voting for the candidate who can best help the nation’s economy.
“I think Mitt Romney better understands economic cycles and drivers than Obama does,” said Miller, who commutes to work at a bank in downtown Hamilton. “I think the Democratic Party tries to paint women into a corner with respect to women’s issues. I think women are much smarter than that. Smart women aren’t going to be told what’s important to them. In reality, the same things that are important to men are important to women.”
Carolyn Grove, of Fairfield Twp,. said this year’s election will be the most important one of her lifetime.
“For me, the most important thing is the economy and second is (national) security,” Grove said. “I don’t think that’s being addressed adequately by this administration. If we have a strong economy, women will have good jobs. That’s the most important women’s issue … The other side is pushing birth control out of proportion to what’s really important … We need a good economy and we’re not getting it with this president.”
Vinylmax LLC president Laura Doerger-Roberts told the crowd that her parents founded the business 30 years ago and spoke about the company’s successes in building a new plant, creating 100 new jobs and seeing the business triple during the 2000s to the pain of a downturn in business and the laying off of employees in the past few years.
“There’s hope for all of us,” she said. “Mitt has a plan for American businesses and families,” she said.
Romney is part of a GOP women’s bus tour that also included Taylor; Jane Portman, the wife of Sen. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park; and Cindy McCain, wife of 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Also speaking were Butler County Domestic Relations Judge Sharon Kennedy, who is seeking seat on the Ohio Supreme Court; county Coroner Lisa Mannix; state Rep. Margy Conditt; and Tillie Hidalgo Lima, CEO of Best on Request.
“I just love woman-owned businesses,” McCain said. “We need a president who understands how to move the economy.”
She also said the nation needs a strong military, which Mitt Romney has advocated.
Hidalgo Lima recounted how her family escaped Cuba after the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and that a strong family work ethic led her to build a profitable, debt-free business with 100 team members across the nation.
“I want a president that is pro-business,” she said. “Mitt and (Wisconsin Congressman Paul) Ryan understand that we built our businesses … Mitt and Paul will restore our American dream.”
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