民调：奥巴马在女性选民中领先罗姆尼

Both U.S. President Barack Obama and his likely Republican opponent in November, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, are focusing heavily on women voters, since women make up 53 percent of the U.S. electorate. Recent public opinion surveys show Obama with a two-digit advantage over Romney among women voters, but the general election campaign is just getting started.

美国总统奥巴马和他在今年11月竞选中可能的对手、前麻萨诸塞州州长罗姆尼都在努力争取女性的选票。美国的女性选民占全部选民的百分之53。最近的民调显示，奥巴马在女性选民中的支持率百分比领先罗姆尼两位数之多，但是总统大选目前还刚刚开始。

The Republican primary race had an unexpected focus on abortion, access to birth control and other social issues that directly affect women. Recent opinion polls show the intense debate over those social issues may have hurt Romney with women voters, with some surveys showing Romney trailing Obama among women by up to 20 percentage points. Campaigning this week in Connecticut, Romney rejected charges made by Democrats that Republicans are waging a war on women.

共和党总统初选出人意料地重点关注堕胎、获得控制生育的服务以及其它直接影响到女性的社会议题。最近的民调显示，就这些社会议题进行的密集辩论可能有损于罗姆尼获得女性的选票。一些民调显示，罗姆尼在女性选民中的支持率落后于奥巴马达20个百分点。

"I was disappointed in listening to the president as he said, 'Republicans are waging a war on women.' The real war on women is being waged by the president's failed economic policies," said Romney.

罗姆尼本周在康涅狄克州竞选，他驳斥了民主党有关共和党正在对女性宣战的指称。他说：“听到总统说，‘共和党人正在对女性宣战’，我感到很失望。真正对女性宣战的是这位总统失败的经济政策。”

Romney also received an unintended boost from a Democratic strategist and TV political commentator, Hilary Rosen. During an interview on CNN, Rosen said that Romney's wife, Ann Romney, a mother of five, had "never worked a day in her life." The Romney campaign seized on the moment amid a firestorm of criticism over the remark. Obama quickly reacted, telling an Iowa television station, "there is no tougher job than being a mom."

罗姆尼无意识中得到一位民主党籍战略分析师和电视政论家希拉里·罗森的帮助。在美国有线新闻网CNN的一次采访中，罗森说罗姆尼的妻子、五个孩子的母亲安·罗姆尼在一生中从来没有工作过一天。罗姆尼竞选阵营抓住机会，对这一言论进行抨击。奥巴马总统很快做出回应，他对艾奥瓦州一家电视台说，“当母亲的工作比任何工作都艰难。”White House spokesman Jay Carney defended what he called the president's strong record of standing up for equal pay for women and social welfare programs supported by many women.

白宫发言人卡尼为总统辩护，他称奥巴马总统在捍卫女性获得同工同酬，以及得到女性支持的社会福利项目的权利方面，一直有强有力的记录。

"It begins with the signing of the president's Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It continues with the emphasis on the need to put teachers back in the classroom. It continues with a variety of programs, including our opposition to the Ryan Republican budget and its dramatic cuts - Medicare for example," said Carney.

卡尼说：“这些记录起始于总统签署“莉莉·莱柏特合理工资法”之后总统一直强调需要让教师重返课堂。总统为维护女性权利所做的工作还体现在很多项目上，其中包括我们反对共和党人瑞恩提出的预算以及这份预算对健保项目大幅削减开支。”

Political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said that there has been a gender gap in American politics for decades.

弗吉尼亚大学的政治分析人士拉里·萨伯托表示，几十年来，美国的政治中一直存在性别鸿沟。

"Women disproportionately lean to Democratic Party candidates, and men disproportionately lean to Republican Party candidates. The size of the gender gap varies from year to year depending on the circumstances. The one in 2008 was enormous, and I would bet a large sum of money that this year's won't be anything close to it."

他说：“女性倾向于支持民主党候选人，男性则倾向于支持共和党候选人。性别鸿沟的程度年年不同，这取决于当时的环境氛围。2008年选举中的性别差异非常大，我敢赌一大笔钱说，今年选举的性别差异肯定不会像2008年那么大。”