Pollster Kellyanne Conway on Cuccinelli, Christie & Women

Conservatives should take 3 key lessons from November's gubernatorial races, pollster (and Institute board member) Kellyanne Conway told NRO's Kathryn Lopez in an interview.

1. Obamacare is poison.  Despite no money, Virginia candidate Ken Cuccinelli closed a double-digit negative gap against Obamacare advocate Terry McAuliffe to a mere -2.5% on Election Day. Given another week [or, we could add, RINO donor support], Cuccinelli would likely have won.
2. The "War on Women" has run its course. NJ candidate Chris Christie's opponent, Barbara Buono, used the same "abortion, anyone, anytime, anywhere" playbook as McAuliffe in Virginia and lost to Christie by 34 points.
3. Don't play your opponent's game. Both sides [in the Virginia race] went negative early and stayed negative. Women prefer positive solutions to negative slights.

Conway has one piece of advice looking forward to 2016: 

What must be resisted is allowing a bunch of donors and consultants to proclaim “who can win” and “who can’t win” three years before the election. It is silly, unprovable, designed to pad the pockets of consultants and dissuade conservative candidates, and is never followed by the Left. They nominate non-household names (Carter, Clinton, Obama) and Republicans nominate people known best for having lost previously (Dole, Romney, McCain).

Obamacare, Common Core, and economic growth will be among the important questions to GOP primary voters. The ability to connect with and convince working-class voters and others who remain elusive to the GOP will also matter.

Read the full interview.

Elle Magazine: "The Best and the Rightest"

"A new generation of conservative women is stepping forward to dis feminists and cheer low taxes, guns, and motherhood," teases Elle magazine above Nina Burleigh's article. It's an interesting read. (Townhall.com's Katie Pavlich comments on the article here.)

Could Millennials be the Next 'Greatest Generation'?

Since we work with young college-age women, we tend to follow polls and trends of the 18 to 30 age group. Recent articles suggest those under age 30 — the Millennial generation — are facing tough times, and it's causing them to undergo the kind of philosophical shift that often occurs when reality overwhelms ideals. Could the tough times forge the Millennials into the next 'greatest generation'?