'Walmart Moms' Focus Group Feels Better About Both Candidates After Debate
The good news for President Obama after his second encounter with challenger Mitt Romney on the debate stage: it wasn’t a complete rout like the last time around, at least in the eyes of so-called “Walmart moms,” a valuable swing voting bloc this election cycle.
In a Milwaukee-area focus group of 20 of these women—defined as female voters with children under the age of 18 who have shopped at the retail chain at least once in the last month—participants felt more favorable toward both candidates at the end of the 90-minute exchange.
Asked to rate their feelings toward the candidates on a scale of 1 to 100, the Walmart moms gave Obama a score of 64 and Romney a 54, an increase in 13 points for the president and seven points for the GOP nominee from the start of the debate.
Romney and Obama each won converts with their performances—one Walmart mom went over to Romney’s camp while two became Obama supporters during the course of Tuesday evening, out of the seven undecided voters who participated in the focus groups.
The bipartisan polling team of Public Opinion Strategies (Republican) and Momentum Analysis (Democratic) has identified “Walmart moms” as an important voting bloc and one of the few persuadable demographic groups. It has been tracking the group’s political leanings since 2010.
In November 2011, the two firms found that these moms made up 27 percent of all registered women voters, representing 14 percent of the electorate. According to their findings, in 2008, the Walmart moms helped Obama seal a decisive victory, while in November 2010, they helped Republicans win the House.
Some of the Wisconsin Walmart moms expressed relief that President Obama had brought his A-game to Tuesday night’s program.
“He did much better than in his first debate,” said one Walmart mom.
“I was actually comforted,” another elaborated. “Obama knows what went wrong and he kind of knows how to fix it.”
A third noted that Obama showcased his strength during the debate—his likeability.
“Obama’s more genuine and down to earth,” she said.
Others, however, said Romney did a good job of ensuring that Obama was forced to reckon with the promises made in 2008 that had not been actualized.
“Some of the points he was making, I had to compare to the last four years,” one woman said. “We had a lot of hope but I was left thinking, ‘Hmm, I’m not sure the next four years are going to be much different.’”
“He’s got the words, but no plans,” another said.
As for the Republican challenger, the Walmart moms were still left hungering from more specifics about what a Romney administration might look like, although they also said he posted another strong performance.
They did not appreciate either candidate’s attempt to dodge the questions.
“I just feel that neither of them 100% answered the question before they started finger-pointing,” one mom said.
“It still leaves me very confused,” another woman lamented. “Mitt Romney didn’t say what he would do, although he did talk about what he had done.”
The women also indicated they still weren’t feeling as if they could relate to the former Massachusetts governor. One woman said he came off as an “elitist.” Another added, “He doesn’t come across as being likeable or relatable.”
