FreedomWorks said Monday it would spend $1 million to educate, message-test and mobilize women voters in support of free-market policies and candidates in the 2020 election.
The conservative group’s Women Win 2020 advocacy campaign is aimed at the Dirty 30 districts that President Trump won in 2016 and Democrats won in 2018, according to FreedomWorks Vice President Parissa Sedghi.
“Being an election year, we’re going to hear over and over again from the liberals about the war on women,” Ms. Sedghi said at the National Press Club on Monday. “And let me tell you: Women are equal but different, our needs and wants are different, and guess what? All issues are women issues.”
About 120 female activists flew to Washington for a conference kicking off the effort this weekend to learn the tools necessary to mobilize voters in their communities.
FreedomWorks is working with political pollster Scott Rasmussen to identify voters, develop a persuasive message, and run targeted digital ad campaigns in the run-up to the November elections.
Mr. Rasmussen said at the National Press Club that a key part of the effort is to identify and recruit “disengaged deciders.”
“These are people who are only loosely connected with the political process, if they’re connected at all,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “When the partisan bases fight each other to a draw, these less engaged voters end up determining who goes into elected office.”
Mr. Rasmussen said 1 of every 5 voters falls into the “disengaged decider” category. Those voters are apathetic about the political process, as Mr. Rasmussen said about half of them don’t think the country would be in a much different position if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had defeated Mr. Trump, and a majority of disengaged deciders don’t care who controls Congress.
Mr. Rasmussen said he thought FreedomWorks’ new advocacy effort had import beyond the 2020 elections, in that it could encourage apathetic voters to participate in American politics.
“Reaching these people is a real challenge for political types, for the simple fact that they are turned off by the rhetoric that turns on the activists,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “So this effort by FreedomWorks to reach these people on a one-on-one basis and to find ways to connect through people in their community is essential because they can provide pragmatic, compelling reasons why voting is a part of their civic and community involvement. They can convince people, perhaps, that it makes a difference and take the time to listen and explain why.”
FreedomWorks is not alone in trying to help Republicans win back female voters. The Republican Main Street Partnership has also diagnosed a difficulty reaching suburban women. The group previously held a candidate school in Washington to teach its preferred candidates how to reach those voters.
Liberals have linked arms with several advocacy groups to capture female voters and disengaged voters. The Progressive Turnout Project, one such group, plans to spend $45 million and have its activists knock on 7 million doors across 16 battleground states before the November elections to turn out uninspired voters.
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