First, here’s the information from Public Policy Polling. In addition to the gender gap discussed below, the poll indicates that few people think Rush Limbaugh should have much influence:
Even if voters are pretty split on whether they like Limbaugh or not, there’s more of a consensus on how much sway they think he should hold in American politics, which is not much. Only 23% of respondents said Limbaugh should have ‘a lot’ of influence and the most common answer, given by 42% of respondents, is that he should have no influence at all.
Even among Republicans only 39% think Limbaugh should have a lot of influence, an indication that some GOP elected officials have perhaps been more eager to stay on his good side than necessary in the early days of the Obama administration.
Now, from Limbaugh’s website re: the gender gap found by PPP:
“The gender gap is one of the largest [Public Policy Polling] has seen on any issue it’s polled in the last year, with [Rush] Limbaugh having a +19 (56/37) net favorability among men, but a -12 (37/49) with women.” I have a 37% approval with women, 49% disapproval. “Thirty-one-point point gender gaps don’t come along all that often.” Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is an opportunity here, because this takes us to the age-old question: What do women want? Not even Freud was ultimately able to answer the question. Women generally, for the most part, can’t answer it, either. But it has never stopped people from asking the question: What do women want? Given this massive gender gap in my personal approval numbers, a 31-point gender gap, it seems reasonable for me to convene a summit.
How:
We’ll have a summit of all the women in this audience — or as many of them as we can get into breakout groups — and perhaps devote an hour in an upcoming program to calls only from women who genuinely want to talk to me. They can be liberal, conservative. They could be non-audience members, could be audience members. But I want some of these women to start telling me what it is I must do to close the gender gap — or, if not what it is I must do to close the gender gap, what it is I’ve done that has caused the gender gap; assuming the gender gap is true and that the poll is true.
Ummm, you know – the women, who aren’t listening – they’re the ones ya probably need to hear from the most, yah?
When:
I don’t know if we’ll do it tomorrow because we got Obama’s big speech tonight, but we might. So, you ladies be on standby. Be ready at any moment for me to declare the summit officially underway, and we will take calls only from women who want to seriously discuss the proposition of this giant gender gap that I have, and what I could do to close it. In other words: What could I do to attract a higher favorability rating among more women in America? I own the men, and what must I do now to own women? And who better to ask than women? Including some of those who may agree that that I’m unfavorable.
After the GOP response from Bobby Jindal last night – whom Rush says is the next Ronald Reagan (who was called The Great Communicator – that same Ronald Reagan?), I would like to hear from conservatives: Who are your leaders and icons right now? Who measures up?
Cross-posted from Writes Like She Talks.