Studying healthcare - WDAM-TV 7-News, Weather, Sports-Hattiesburg, MS

(RNN) - Margaret Quinlan and Jillian Tullis, two assistant professors from University of North Carolina Charlotte, teach classes in health communications.

Between Obamacare and Republican Rep. Todd Akin's comments about "forcible rape" and abortion, the women have had plenty to study.

"We'll always be employed," Quinlan joked.              

The two are surveying convention attendees about the perceptions of women's health care.

They say they came to the DNC because it was a short drive that they could make in a day.

The data won't be in for some time, but both say they're surprised men have similar responses to women, and know the issues as well as women do.

Quinlan said that women's issues are brought up every election because they are a vulnerable group.

"Yet women are a powerful voting block," Tullis said.

The two women said that there is a fear in politics that women will be empowered and in control.

"I do believe that conservatives are doing what they are doing in the best interest of women, but what we're hearing [at the DNC] is that women only know what's best for women," Tullis said.

The two also will visit the Occupy Wall Street protestors' camp to see how they perceive women's health is being covered in the media.

"We're aware that much of the data we're collecting is one-sided, but there is still value in understanding what people are thinking," Tullis said.

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