Lydia Weiss plans to vote for Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Nov. 7, but it's not because the candidate is a woman.
"She's the pro-choice candidate. That's really important to me," said Weiss, 20, director of the Women's Council on campus. "She knows what the Michigan person needs more than (Dick) DeVos."
This gubernatorial election, capturing the women's vote could determine who lands in office, so Republican challenger DeVos and Granholm have been targeting women in the past weeks, Lansing pollster Ed Sarpolus said. And female MSU students are part of the group.
"Women tend to take a little longer to make up their mind," Sarpolus said Thursday. "That's why the focus of the ads in the last week has been on women."
A recent DeVos television advertisement features women criticizing Granholm about Michigan's economy, while a Granholm advertisement focuses on abortion, reminding voters that DeVos has publicly stated he opposes abortion.
"The big focus has been on the female vote because that's what DeVos needs to win," Sarpolus said. "The vast majority of Granholm's voters are female."
The latest poll placed Granholm ahead of DeVos among women voters by 6 percentage points.
Granholm is carrying 49 percent of the women's vote and DeVos is carrying 43 percent, Sarpolus said.
The margin is closer among men, with Granholm leading 46 percent to DeVos' 44 percent.
English senior Jessica Lucas, 21, said she doesn't plan to vote for either candidate and isn't affected by the television advertisements.
"I try not to be influenced by television ads because they do a lot of attacking," Lucas said. "I can see where they would be influential to people who might not have time to research the topics, especially busy mothers or college students."
According to the Michigan Department of State Web site, only 18.6 percent of 18- to 24-year-old women voted in the 2002 gubernatorial election.
While Lucas might not be influenced by television ads, other women are, Sarpolus said. Prior to DeVos' most recent advertisements, Granholm was leading with 51 percent of the vote. Now she is leading with only 48 percent, Sarpolus said.
"That ad was the only thing that changed between the two polls," Sarpolus said. "Her counter-ad helped her out among older women, though."
Political science professor Darren Davis counters, saying that although recent advertisements have focused more on social issues, he doesn't think the campaigns are catering specifically to women.
"A lot of candidates don't generally have a lot of money to spend on ads until later," Davis said. "The prevalent issues aren't really gender specific. The pressing issues are jobs and the economy. Both men and women are likely to have hardship."
For Weiss, the Women's Council director, television advertisements don't really have as much to do with voting patterns as the issues do.
She said many women will vote for Granholm because she can better understand issues women face.
"She's dedicated to women's issues and bettering women's lives," Weiss said. "Things like the minimum wage gap, abortion, would hit closer to home for her than DeVos."
