Hopefuls target women's issues in US vote

US: Women could well swing the outcome of the US Presidential election, and both candidates know it, playing up issues like healthcare and abortion in the countdown to November 6.

Women make up 53 percent of the electorate in the United States and they vote in greater numbers than men, political analysts say. They also make up a higher number of undecided and swing voters.

"In a very close election, with almost 10 million more women voting than men, the gender gap can make a difference in the outcome of the election," said Debbie Walsh of Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics.

Both men and women agree the economy is the number-one issue.

But women are more likely to attach greater importance to government playing a bigger role in social policy -- something President Barack Obama supports, and Republican challenger Mitt Romney opposes.

"What really drives the gender gap are attitudes about welfare and the social safety net," said Melissa Deckman, a political science professor at Washington College in Maryland specializing in gender and politics.

The gender gap -- the percentage of women versus men who favor a candidate -- ran strongly in Obama's favor in 2008 when he raked in 56 percent of the women's vote, a seven-point edge over Republican rival John McCain.

This time around, however, Romney is going all out to nibble away at Obama's lead, which in some opinion polls has fallen to as little as three percentage points this month.

"Before Mitt Romney started to make some inroads among women, I think the Obama campaign probably thought the women's vote could have carried them to victory pretty easily," Deckman said.

Obama makes a direct link between women's economic well-being and his health care reforms.

Romney has vowed to dismantle "Obamacare" if he takes office, and to halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider especially to lower-income women. AFP