WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) -- Some women who saw anti-Mitt Romney ads focusing on his positions on women's issues were much more likely to support President Obama, a poll indicates.
The poll also showed some women exposed to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund's ads were much more likely to express doubts about Romney, the likely Republican presidential candidate, Politico reported.
The poll gauged the impact of the ads in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Des Moines, Iowa. PPAF had said at the end of May it was spending more than $1 million on commercials in Florida, Iowa and Virginia.
The poll showed Obama led by 11 points in West Palm Beach among women who did not recall seeing the ads but by 28 points among women who did recall seeing the ads. In Des Moines, Obama and Romney were tied among women who did not recall seeing the ads, but Obama led by 28 points among those who recalled seeing the ads.
Related
Half of women in Palm Beach and 55 percent of women in Des Moines said they definitely recalled seeing the commercials.
The poll, by Hart Research, showed Romney's overall image declining among women in West Palm Beach and Des Moines since the ad campaign began.
"The data make clear that the key themes raised by the ads not only break through with these women voters but also stay with them to form a lasting impression," a Hart Research polling memo stated. "Nearly half of women voters in each market report having heard things in the past few weeks that make them feel less favorable toward Mitt Romney, and without referencing PPAF's ads their volunteered responses reiterate the ads' key points."
The memo said "three of the five most frequently volunteered responses are criticisms of Mitt Romney that come directly from the ads" -- his desire to overturn Roe vs. Wade, his stand on women's issues, including equal pay, and his intent to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.
