Latest Presidential Polls 2012: Obama is Still Winning Big Among Women

Impact

There's no doubt that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has gained ground and made the race closer than what it was before the first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado. And a USA Today/Gallup poll from last week even activated the alarm in Democratic quarters as it showed Mitt Romney gaining ground among women. 

However, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll has reassuring results for the president and his supporters as it shows that the so-called gender gap of the 2012 election is alive and well between Obama and his Republican challenger. According to the survey, the president still holds a 20-point lead among female voters.  

Obama and the Democrats spent most of the spring framing the female vote around the so-called reproductive issues, hammering Mitt Romney and the Republican Party for supposedly wanting to take away "women's right to choose" when it comes to contraception and other health issues. They even dedicated a big portion of the Democratic National Convention to this topic.

However, Republicans, who also featured prominent female speakers during their convention, claim Obama's "reproductive rights" stance is a facade to avoid talking about an economic record they say has left more women unemployed and living in poverty than the one of previous administrations. Romney himself raised the issue during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York. 

So it remains to be seen if more female voters will flock to Romney in the remaining three weeks until Election Day, or if the president will solidify support among this crucial constituency. Once the second debate, in which President Obama did much better than during the candidates' first face off, is completely factored in the polls, and after Monday's third and final debate on foreign policy from Boca Raton, Florida, there will be a clearer picture of which side this close and bitter election is going to.