Morning Joe co-host and New York Times journalist Jeremy Peters said that the Democratic Party's "singular focus" on birth control was "backfiring," causing Democratic candidates like Mark Udall (D., Colo.) to go "on the defensive."
"Mark Udall is really on the defensive about making his race so much about birth control and reproductive rights," Peters said. "He used to have a double-digit gender gap advantage with women. Now that's shrunk to about nine points... so there's evidence that some of this singular focus is backfiring."
Peters said the 'gender gap' is not nearly as advantageous for Democrats as it once was.
In Udall's case, the "war on women" narrative has failed to maintain a comfortable lead among female voters, especially since it was revealed that Udall only pays his female staffers 86 cents on the dollar compared to male staffers.
A Washington Post columnist pointed out that even Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has an edge over Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes in the Kentucky Senate race, largely due to his advantage among women.