民調：奧巴馬在女性選民中領先羅姆尼

Both U.S. President Barack Obama and his likely Republican opponent in November, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, are focusing heavily on women voters, since women make up 53 percent of the U.S. electorate. Recent public opinion surveys show Obama with a two-digit advantage over Romney among women voters, but the general election campaign is just getting started.

美國總統奧巴馬和他在今年11月競選中可能的對手、前麻薩諸塞州州長羅姆尼都在努力爭取女性的選票。美國的女性選民佔全部選民的百分之53。最近的民調顯示，奧巴馬在女性選民中的支持率百分比領先羅姆尼兩位數之多，但是總統大選目前還剛剛開始。

The Republican primary race had an unexpected focus on abortion, access to birth control and other social issues that directly affect women. Recent opinion polls show the intense debate over those social issues may have hurt Romney with women voters, with some surveys showing Romney trailing Obama among women by up to 20 percentage points. Campaigning this week in Connecticut, Romney rejected charges made by Democrats that Republicans are waging a war on women.

共和黨總統初選出人意料地重點關注墮胎、獲得控制生育的服務以及其它直接影響到女性的社會議題。最近的民調顯示，就這些社會議題進行的密集辯論可能有損於羅姆尼獲得女性的選票。一些民調顯示，羅姆尼在女性選民中的支持率落後於奧巴馬達20個百分點。

"I was disappointed in listening to the president as he said, 'Republicans are waging a war on women.' The real war on women is being waged by the president's failed economic policies," said Romney.

羅姆尼本週在康涅狄克州競選，他駁斥了民主黨有關共和黨正在對女性宣戰的指稱。他說：“聽到總統說，‘共和黨人正在對女性宣戰’，我感到很失望。真正對女性宣戰的是這位總統失敗的經濟政策。”

Romney also received an unintended boost from a Democratic strategist and TV political commentator, Hilary Rosen. During an interview on CNN, Rosen said that Romney's wife, Ann Romney, a mother of five, had "never worked a day in her life." The Romney campaign seized on the moment amid a firestorm of criticism over the remark. Obama quickly reacted, telling an Iowa television station, "there is no tougher job than being a mom."

羅姆尼無意識中得到一位民主黨籍戰略分析師和電視政論家希拉里·羅森的幫助。在美國有線新聞網CNN的一次採訪中，羅森說羅姆尼的妻子、五個孩子的母親安·羅姆尼在一生中從來沒有工作過一天。羅姆尼競選陣營抓住機會，對這一言論進行抨擊。奧巴馬總統很快做出迴應，他對艾奧瓦州一家電視臺說，“當母親的工作比任何工作都艱難。”White House spokesman Jay Carney defended what he called the president's strong record of standing up for equal pay for women and social welfare programs supported by many women.

白宮發言人卡尼爲總統辯護，他稱奧巴馬總統在捍衛女性獲得同工同酬，以及得到女性支持的社會福利項目的權利方面，一直有強有力的記錄。

"It begins with the signing of the president's Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It continues with the emphasis on the need to put teachers back in the classroom. It continues with a variety of programs, including our opposition to the Ryan Republican budget and its dramatic cuts - Medicare for example," said Carney.

卡尼說：“這些記錄起始於總統簽署“莉莉·萊柏特合理工資法”之後總統一直強調需要讓教師重返課堂。總統爲維護女性權利所做的工作還體現在很多項目上，其中包括我們反對共和黨人瑞恩提出的預算以及這份預算對健保項目大幅削減開支。”

Political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said that there has been a gender gap in American politics for decades.

弗吉尼亞大學的政治分析人士拉里·薩伯託表示，幾十年來，美國的政治中一直存在性別鴻溝。

"Women disproportionately lean to Democratic Party candidates, and men disproportionately lean to Republican Party candidates. The size of the gender gap varies from year to year depending on the circumstances. The one in 2008 was enormous, and I would bet a large sum of money that this year's won't be anything close to it."

他說：“女性傾向於支持民主黨候選人，男性則傾向於支持共和黨候選人。性別鴻溝的程度年年不同，這取決於當時的環境氛圍。2008年選舉中的性別差異非常大，我敢賭一大筆錢說，今年選舉的性別差異肯定不會像2008年那麼大。”