The 2012 Campaign Through the Eyes of ‘Walmart Moms’

Roll Call ^ | June 9, 2012 | By Shira Toeplitz

[SMGFan]

Forget Seamus, the Ryan budget or even the “War on Women.” Undecided female voters didn’t even mention some of the 2012 cycle’s most-hyped news topics in a pair of focus groups on Wednesday evening.

Walmart sponsored the 90-minute focus groups, which were organized by a bipartisan team of pollsters: Margie Omero of Momentum Analysis and Alex Bratty of Public Opinion Strategies. Moderators questioned two groups of “Walmart Moms” — self-described undecided voters who shop at the store at least one a month — in Richmond, Va., and Las Vegas.

It’s a surprisingly rare opportunity for inside-the-Beltway reporters to hear out undecided female voters at length. Even on the campaign trail, interviews often last a few minutes with the most quotable participants. Nonetheless, these women are exactly the fought-over voters for whom campaigns clamor in the final weeks of an election.

Here are a few takeaways from the questioning session:

1. Don’t underestimate the power of the first family’s image with female voters.

[MHGinTN]

And one more thing: I think she’s cute as a bug in a rug, but it appears she’s wearing a ring. *sigh* We coulda had such good times at my gun club range.

[TsonicTsunami08]

I think I see a leather for her tin in front of her left hip, maybe?
She looks like a sweet lady! :-)

[Bigg Red]

I am sure you were picturing yourself at the check-out when you read that, as I was when she told me that. You just don’t even think about it, but you group items in a logical order, you arrange things to facilitate the cashier’s job, etc. These slobs just scoop up armfuls of goods.

Why should they try to be considerate of the checker? Why put any thought into organizing their purchases when they don’t put much thought into organizing their lives? And, of course, if you just scoop up armfuls of stuff you don’t have to bend over into the cart as many times.