1. Briefing and Strategy Session on Key Women & Family Economic Security Issues March 2017

2. Women’s Economic and Reproductive Care Messaging Texas Deep Dive
March 2017

3. Research Covered In This Presentation
Economic and reproductive policy (April 22 – May 1, 2016)
1600 interviews online with registered voters nationwide plus 300 Hispanic women, 300 African American women and 200 White women
600 women in Texas
All participants were matched to the voter list.
Battleground States Poll (March 17-25, 2015)
250 Democratic caucus goers in IA and 250 primary voters in NH
250 Republican caucus goers in IA and 250 primary voters in NH
3,000 likely voters in swing states (800 interviews in OH and FL; 700 interviews in CO and NH)

4. Economic Policies

5. Equal Pay, Wages, Repro and Health Care Seen As Top Issues Facing Women In Texas What are the most important issues facing women in Texas today?
What are the most important issues facing women in Texas today?

6. Support High and Intense Across Board
Equal Pay Primer
Battleground Messaging
Fairness is its own justification:
Women get paid about 78 cents on the dollar, or $11K less per year than men.
Make it bigger – about all of America’s families, not the 40% of households where women are sole/primary breadwinner:
We’ll strengthen America’s families by making sure women are paid fairly.
Support High and Intense Across Board
Texas women
Texas women
Tripwire: Don’t feel the need to justify women’s importance to the household. Messaging on how many households are led by female breadwinners does well overall but alienates some men unnecessarily.
Policy language tested: Strengthen laws to ensure that women get paid the same as men if they do equal work

7. Support High and Intense Across Board
Paid Sick Days
A proposal to require employers to give every worker up to 7 paid sick days per year
Support High and Intense Across Board
Battleground Messaging
Supporting family values means supporting families – and that starts with letting parents have the flexibility to leave work to take care of their kids when they’re sick and take time off for their own illnesses without losing their income. When workers aren’t forced to choose between their income and their health or their kids, they are more likely to stay in their jobs, providing stability for both their families and their employers.
Texas women
Texas women
Targeting Tweaks:
Non-whites: The world has changed a lot in the past 30 to 40 years, but the workplace has not.
Republicans: Supporting families message is on par with business arguments around retention, preventing workplace disruptions
Policy language tested: Require employers to give every worker up to seven paid sick days a year, either for personal illness or to care for a sick family member

8. Paid Family + Medical Leave Insurance
Battleground Messaging
Put the effect in (a larger) context: This isn’t just about parents. It’s about any loved one that falls ill or is involved in an accident, or an elderly parent recovering…or a new child.
Make it about security: Families in this country deserve the security that comes with knowing they won’t lose their paychecks if…
Put the cost in (its relatively small) context: Costs the average worker just $2/week, less than the cost of a cup of coffee
Support High and Intense Across Board,
Although More Partisan Difference
Texas women
Targeting Tweaks:
With GOP – Make it about “stronger families”: We must do everything we can to strengthen American families. America will be stronger when…
With non-GOP – tap sense that one accident away from hardship: In tough economic times, when families struggle to make ends meet, we need to make sure that it doesn't throw the entire family into hardship when…
Texas Women
Tripwire: Running this through Social Security sets off alarm bells across the board and lets opponents tap existing concerns that politicians too often dip into Social Security funding.
Policy language tested: Create a paid family and medical leave insurance program that would give workers a part of their paycheck for up to 12 weeks of leave from their job for a new child, serious illness or ill family member

9. Child Care and Early Education
Support High and Intense Across Board
Battleground Messaging
Remind Voters Childcare Policies Help Everyone: When parents stay in the workforce, child outcomes improve + we keep talent working.
Especially the middle class: The average cost of daycare is over $11,000 dollars per child and out of reach for many middle class families.
And that policies make economic sense:
We have to deal with reality and the reality is that women are working, and that many households can’t afford to have one parent stay home but also can’t afford childcare.
All
TX women
Non-white
Increase funding for high-quality preschool or early education program 89 87
Universal pre-k 80 82 85
Child care tax credits for middle/low-income 76 75
Policy language tested:
Increasing funding: Help working and middle class families afford quality childcare and early education programs
Universal Pre-K: Create a universal public preschool program that guarantees every 3- and 4- year old has access to high-quality early education
Childcare tax credits: Increase child care tax credits for middle and low-income families

10. Nat’l Data: Improving Economic Security For ‘Working Families’ Is A Key Priority, Trumping ‘Women & Families’ and ‘Women’
Among primary battleground states
Single Most Important Priority
One of Few Very Important Priorities
Among All
Among Women 80 81 58 64 44 51
Thinking about the next President to be elected in How important is it that the next President focus on ... ?

11. Strategic and Messaging Imperatives
Go on offense. We have a wide range of proposals that are intensely popular and withstand strong opposition attacks. We can, and should, put opponents on defense for opposition instead of responding reactively to attacks.
Use policies to draw clear lines in the sand. Concerns about “mandates” are our biggest vulnerability. So with these otherwise overwhelmingly popular proposals, we are on stronger ground debating the specific policies than the broader need for increased regulations or protections on workers.
Fight on our turf (fairness, hard work, families), not what we think is theirs.
Tap into Americans’ desire for fairness and belief that hard work should be rewarded
Focus on how these policies will help families. Messages as to whether or how they benefit the economy or businesses are generally flanking or second-tier.
Don’t go negative on businesses. This policies are about helping families succeed, not correcting some wrong done by businesses or failure of the private sector.
Don’t narrow the appeal unnecessarily.
Economic security for “working families” draws in far more people – including far more women – than economic security for “women and families” or just “women.”
Don’t alienate men from the pay equity fight by focusing just on households where women are the primary/only breadwinner. Every household benefits when women are paid fairly.
Similarly, don’t narrow the socioeconomic focus unnecessarily. Proposals or messaging that seem targeted to lower incomes are predictably less overwhelmingly popular.

12. Messaging Cheat Sheet Subgroup nuances in individual sections
General framing:
Supporting family values means supporting families.
We strengthen America’s families when we…
Families deserve the security of…
Pay Equity: A basic fairness argument that needs little/no justification. Focus on all households and families.
Women should get paid the same as men for the same work. But women get paid about 78 cents on the dollar, or $11K less per year than men. We’ll strengthen America’s families by making sure women are paid fairly.
Paid sick days: Basic fairness to families comes before any economic argument.
Parents need the flexibility to take care of their kids when they’re sick and take time off for their own illnesses without losing their income. When workers aren’t forced to choose between their income and their health or their kids, they are more likely to stay in their jobs, providing stability for both their families and their employers.
Paid leave: Widen the pie – it’s not just about kids, it’s for anyone with a parent, child, spouse or loved one.
Families this country deserve the security that comes with knowing that if a loved one falls seriously ill and needs to be cared for or if a woman decides to have a child, they won't lose their paychecks.
Child care: Focus on middle class first, and make the economic argument personal.
The average cost of daycare is over $11,000 dollars per child and out of reach for many middle class families, even if both parents are working. And it’s impossible for low wage workers who do not earn much more than that working full time.

13. Reproductive Care

14. Overwhelming, Intense Support For Affordable And Accessible Repro Care, But Avoid Short-Handing When Possible – Especially With Women Of Color
% strongly support / % total support
TX women
All
Non-white
Ensure reproductive care is affordable for women
51/80
45/77
Ensure reproductive care – like birth control, pre-natal care, and preventative care like cancer screenings – is affordable for women
75/93
70/87
Ensure reproductive care – like birth control, pre-natal care, preventative care like cancer screenings, and abortion – is affordable for women
64/88
72/90
When it comes to things state and national leaders could do, do you support or oppose this proposal?

15. “Affordable” Tests Higher Than “Free” Birth Control, But Support For “Free” Is High Enough To Explore As An Explicitly Stated Goal…
Ensure birth control is affordable for women
Ensure all women have access to free birth control
Total 90 78 93 85 89 90 90 80 67 92
When it comes to things state and national leaders could do, do you support or oppose this proposal?

16. Require all employee health plans to cover birth control
…Because Framing Matters… Debate Needs To Focus On What Women Need, Not What Employers Rights Are Or Aren’t
Allow employers to decide whether employees' health insurance covers birth control
Require all employee health plans to cover birth control
When it comes to things state and national leaders could do, do you support or oppose this proposal?
Do you support or oppose allowing employers to decide whether their employees’ health insurance covers the costs of birth control?

17. Many Intriguing Angles For Increasing Repro Care: Top Messages Went On Offense How convincing a reason is this to improve access to reproductive care?
Among TX women
Very convincing
Total convincing
Insurance companies cover vasectomies and Viagra, but many refuse to cover birth control or emergency contraception pills. For women to have basic equality, they need the basic services that give them the ability to have control over their body and health. 53 81
When it comes to issues like birth control, it's time for politicians to stop forcing their extreme beliefs' on women and getting involved in personal decisions that should be left to a woman, her doctor and her family. 52 75
The same politicians that oppose efforts to make birth control affordable and accessible for all Americans are the ones that are also fighting to make abortion illegal. If we truly want to reduce abortions, that starts with ensuring families have affordable birth control and reproductive care. 48 82

18. But Income Inequality, Economic Security Also Proved Quite Strong How convincing a reason is this to improve access to reproductive care?
Among TX women
Very convincing
Total convincing
Policies like equal pay, maternity leave and affordable childcare are critical priorities because they give families financial security. Access to reproductive care, like affordable birth control, pre-natal care and abortion are also critically important for women to have that security. 44 75
If we want to address income inequality, we have to address the fact that lower-income women are far less likely to have access to reproductive care services that let them plan for and take care of their families. 40 80
Women make up nearly half the workforce and the overwhelming majority of caregivers. They are critically important to our economy and when women have access to reproductive care that helps them control their body, health and future - everyone is better off. 42 78

19. Abortion

20. TX Women More Attuned To Threat But Still Less Than Half Recognize How Hard It’s Become To Access Abortion In the past few years has it become harder or easier for women to get an abortion in your state?
TX women
TX women
As far as you know, in the past few years has it become:

21. When The Central Question Is About Government’s Role, We’re Winning
When it comes to abortion laws, which concerns you more?
The government will go too far and get involved in personal decisions that should be left to a woman, her family, and her doctor.
The government will not do enough to protect unborn children and stop irresponsible people from using abortion as birth control.
TX women
When it comes to abortion laws, which concerns you more?

22. Many Of Our Supporters Have Mixed View Of Women Who Get Abortions How frequently do you feel this word/phrase applies to women who get an abortion?
% describes at least half of women
Abortion key metric among TX women
(1: legal in all cases, 4 never)
1+2
3+4
Brave 76 26
Responsible 75 24
Making right decision 65
Irresponsible 47 83
Selfish 39 78
Promiscuous 81
How frequently do you feel this word/phrase applies to women who get an abortion?

23. 1/9 of sample read this before being asked about restrictions
(Nat’l Data) Normalizing Image Of Women Who Get Abortions Can Help Soften Support For Restrictions That “Make Sure She Thinks About It Real Hard”
1/9 of sample read this before being asked about restrictions
Women who make the deeply personal decision to have an abortion come from all walks of life – college students, stay-at-home moms, moms who work two jobs, women in the military, victims of horrible crimes, women with serious illnesses, women whose birth control failed. More than half of women who get abortions are over 25, and more than half are mothers. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 women have had an abortion at some point for various reasons.
% strongly support/ total support (strongly + somewhat)
Control Group
Primed Group
Requiring a woman to get a counseling session before she can have an abortion
46/79
43/73
Requiring a 2-3 day waiting period for a woman after she sees a doctor before she can have an abortion
41/77
34/75
Now you are going to see some things being proposed or passed around the country. Do you support or oppose this?

24. Equality Provides Stronger Foundation For Abortion Messaging Than Poverty, Financial Hardships
Among TX women
Very convincing
Total convincing
For women to be truly equal with men, they need to have the same opportunities in life - and that includes the same financial opportunities like equal pay for equal work, but also the ability to have control over their own body and health care decisions. 44 71
Access and affordability of reproductive care is critical to ensuring women have true equality. Because when women don't have control over their own bodies and health care decisions, they can't have real equality. 37 63
Most households in America today rely on a woman's income, and most women are still the primary caregivers for children. That's why women need to be able to control their own bodies and their own health care decisions 35
Most households in America today rely on a woman's income. In fact, women are the primary breadwinners in 4 of 10 households, and the only breadwinner in 3 of 10. For those families to have financial security, women need access to affordable abortion. 31 57
Our society needs to face the reality of what happens when low-income women can't get an affordable abortion. Her other children have to get by with even less and her family has even less of a chance of breaking the cycle of poverty. 26 58
For some women, an unintended pregnancy can mean dropping out of school, losing their job, or not being able to take care of their children. Three-fourths of women who've had abortions say it was because having a baby would have interfered with work, school, or other family responsibilities. 27 50
All women, not some women
How convincing a reason is this to improve access to affordable abortions?

25. Messaging Sum-up

26. Key Findings: Government Interference In Patient-Provider Relationship
This research confirmed and expanded previous findings about the strength of this messaging angle. It succeeds because it speaks to deeply-held values and concerns.
What works:
Tapping into cynicism about government, especially their involvement in health care:
The government is not qualified to interfere in anyone's relationship with their trusted medical provider.
If politicians continue to be allowed to place medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion, there is nothing to stop them from interfering in other medical decisions as well.
Pit politicians against doctors, science: A doctor's focus must be on their patients’ health no matter the circumstances, but right now they are forced to navigate unnecessary and even unsafe political requirements not grounded in science.
Go on offense against politicians: It's time for politicians to stop trying to punish women who decide they need an abortion. Politicians should not impose their extreme political beliefs and get in between a woman and her doctor.
What doesn’t:
Comparing abortion to other procedures/calling it uncomplicated: There's no other procedure – especially one as safe and uncomplicated as nearly all abortions are – where politicians interfere like they do on abortion.

27. Key Findings: Economic Messages
In general, economic messages work better for birth control than abortion, but for issues they are better when they…
…tap into concerns about income inequality and the gap between the wealthy and everyone else. Poverty-centric messages worked well with people of color, but not overall or with swing groups.
…emphasize how an entire family or economy benefits (not just the woman)
…successfully ladder to larger conversations around gender equality.
People of color, especially Hispanics, are much more responsive to economic messaging about what happens when low-income women don’t have access to birth control and abortion.
Building from our learnings in the qualitative research, we had more success linking reproductive care to other issues, but only when…
…birth control is linked to other pro-family policies along the continuum: pre-natal care, maternity leave, child care.
…abortion is linked at a very high values level to equal pay (the same financial opportunities and the same ability to control their own body as men).
Don’t use economic messaging against abortion restrictions. There is too much education to be done about these restrictions being unsound or otherwise unnecessary.

28. Key Women and Family Economic Security Issues: CAP Next Steps
March 2017
americanprogress.org 28

29. Topos Research Equality Government Focus on Solutions
Shift the focus from people to jobs. Bring attention to disparities in job standards—e.g. the basic benefits  —rather than disparities between groups or categories of individuals.
Government
New policies are “workplace standards.”
Involvement in standards should be expected. Government has long had a role.
Focus on Solutions
People hear about problems, not solutions.
Stories of real, effective solutions overcome concerns.

30. Develop actionable content for our partners:
New toolkits
Questions to ask
Message do’s and don’ts

31. Host briefings/trainings:
to help shape messaging and policy arguments with our key national partners and state advocates, including key elected officials and funders. 31

32. Drive a strong communications narrative:
With editorial boards
Facilitate op-eds
Provide social media guidance

33. Produce products that elevate key themes and strategies from the research, such as:
Basic standards shouldn’t be left up to luck—all workers deserve a fair shot that isn’t dependent on occupation or employer.
Times have changed, and old workforce standards are no longer realistic or feasible for America’s families to get by.
Concrete, practical solutions are already improving people’s lives, communities, and local economies in states like New Jersey, Rhode Island, and California.