Some activists are even trying to cast immigration reform as a women’s issue, too.

The logic is simple: Democrats tend to win elections when more women vote, and women tend not to vote as much in midterm years. Those numbers are even higher, in both respects, among unmarried women, who also tend to respond the most strongly to the economic appeal. With Democrats trying to hold onto the Senate, make gains in the House and win several key governor’s races, they need women showing up at the polls and voting for them in numbers that defy those trends.

If there’s anything approaching Democratic confidence about November, it’s this: Operatives love talking about a CNN poll earlier this month that found 59 percent of women — and 64 percent of women older than 50 — saying the Republican Party is out of touch.

In an election year that Republicans are trying to make a referendum on Obama and Obamacare, Democrats believe this is what they can get people talking about.