WASHINGTON Poll finds Obama is gaining favor with women

President Barack Obama's standing with women is strengthening as the economy improves and social issues, including birth control, become a bigger part of the nation's political discourse, an Associated Press-GfK poll suggests.

"Republicans are making a big mistake with this contraception talk, and I'm pretty sure that they are giving (the election) to Obama," says Patricia Speyerer, 87, of McComb, Miss., a GOP-leaning independent. "It's a stupid thing."

Women also give the president more credit than men are for the country's economic turnaround, the poll shows.

On overall approval, Obama gained 10 percentage points among women since December, from 43 percent to 53 percent.

The AP-GfK poll was conducted Feb. 16-20 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults, including 485 women. Results from the full sample have a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points. Among women, the margin of error is 6 points.

Santorum robocalls urge Democrats to vote anti-Romney

LIVONIA, Mich. Rick Santorum's campaign is sponsoring computerized phone calls urging Michigan Democrats to vote against Mitt Romney in the state's Republican primary, which is allowed if they declare themselves Republicans for the purpose of voting.

Romney called the effort a "dirty trick" in a Fox News interview Monday night, but Santorum defended the "robocall" as positive and told the network that the calls were part of an effort to attract Democratic voters he would need in a general election. Associated Press

Republican governors criticize Santorum's 'snob' remark

Rick Santorum calls it snobbery to suggest that students ought to go to college. On Monday, some GOP governors in Washington for the National Governors Association took issue with that remark, which Santorum made Saturday.

"I wish he'd said it differently," Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell said. "When you look at what's going on in other countries, China, India, the premium they put on higher education - we've got to do better if we still want to be the global leader we are."

He was echoed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"Not all folks are gifted in the same way," Santorum said Saturday. "Some people have incredible gifts with their hands. ... President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob."

He said Obama wants students to attend universities so they can be inculcated in liberal values.

Obama defended his education policies Monday, saying his higher education plan includes a vision for those students who do not attend traditional universities.

"I'm not only talking about four-year degrees," he said. "I'm also talking about going to community college to get a degree for a manufacturing job where you have to ... handle a million-dollar piece of equipment." Washington Post