Are the soccer moms going the way of the Dodo bird?
Along the so-called late 20th century gender continuum, first there were “soccer moms”, the nickname assigned to that segment of white suburban mothers who, according to the political talkers and demographics stereotype assigners of the time, were partial to government benefits and welfare programs so much so that they allegedly favored the Democrats over their traditional loyalty to the Republican party.
When someone pictured the “soccer moms”, they probably envisioned large municipal sports complexes commissioned by well-meaning city planners which contained soccer fields on one side (maybe even with artificial turf) and bordered by baseball fields and even a few basketball courts to round out the youth recreational atmosphere.
Kids of different ages are everywhere in these places on weekends with “moms” busying themselves with uniforms, team snacks, transportation in SUV’s and both boys and girls milling about taking part in or preparing to play games. It’s an industry. Moms are mostly Caucasian in this scenario, performing their duties effortlessly because that’s what soccer moms do. The self-appointed experts say the moms care about health insurance, primarily, and they feel they fulfilled an obligation by having voted for Barack Obama since he shattered the color divide and spoke a good game as though “free” government benefits made everyone’s lives better.
The stigma persists, as though all suburban women think and vote the same.
Republicans, meanwhile, were embodied by Mitt Romney, purveyors of the old order, suspicious of minorities and inherently against abortion because “women’s rights” didn’t matter to them. It never mattered that conservative Republican women were among the most active in the party – the “soccer moms” glorified in being “progressive” and liberal and sported their “With Her!” bumper stickers and license plate frames as though they could be counted on to lead the nation into the next century.
As is the case with most such flowery illusions, none of this “soccer mom” myth was true. White college educated women were moving steadily into the Democrat column for decades then, and it didn’t take Barack Obama running – or winning – the presidency to demonstrate their powers. “Independent women” didn’t need to be told what to do, least of all by their conservative traditionalist husbands or gun toting single male stereotypical incarnations of the XY chromosome type.
Now, it’s said, that single women of all races constitute the core constituency in the Democrat party. That’s one of the reasons why abortion has been and remains such a big issue for Democrats and why liberals guard so-called “women’s rights” so earnestly, like their political lives depended on it. But they do (depend on it).
Nothing stays the same in the ever-evolving political world, however, and a backlash is building. A new type of “mom” is taking over the scene, and they lean more towards the Republican side and the candidacy of Donald Trump. In an article titled “‘Border moms’ helping close Trump’s gender gap”, Seth McLaughlin reported at The Washington Times recently:
“Ms. Aldridge is part of an emerging bloc of ‘border moms’ — some call them ‘safety moms’ — whose rising fears of crime and an uncontrolled border are roiling the presidential race and pushing them into Mr. Trump’s camp. The key demographic for Mr. Trump has long suffered from a gender gap, though he narrowed the gap in his 2020 matchup with Mr. Biden. Further gains for Mr. Trump among female voters make reelection more challenging for Mr. Biden.
“The border moms’ fears came together this year with the killing of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia. The slaying on campus was blamed on an illegal immigrant whom the Biden administration caught and released at the border. The mob beating of police officers in New York City, rapes in Louisiana and Massachusetts, the shooting death of a 2-year-old in Maryland, and the slaying of a woman in Michigan all were blamed on illegal immigrants who were beneficiaries of relaxed immigration policies under Mr. Biden.
“What’s particularly worrying to border moms is fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid that is flooding the U.S. thanks to the Mexican smuggling cartels that also control the illegal flow of people.”
Hmmm. There’s logic here. It appears that government health care worries are trumped by fears engendered by government policies that foster crime and safety concerns in 2024. It’s basic human nature, more than anything. Mothers watch their children’s every move since birth. It’s an innate sense to protect the youths.
Sarah Palin used to call these moms “Mama Grizzlies”. Well, those mama bears are terrified to tears over what they see happening in America. As McLaughlin additionally reported in his article, “The latest Economist/YouGov poll shows that 13% of female voters list immigration as their top issue and 11% list abortion. Both are topped by inflation at 24%. More than 6 in 10 female voters in the poll disapproved of the way Mr. Biden has handled immigration.”
Flashy campaigns about Biden and his wish to “help” people by showering them with government money can’t compete with Trump’s promises to protect their families. Therein lies the difference now – and even the liberals’ sacred abortion distortion is falling by the wayside with the former “soccer moms”.
Perhaps the government benefit thing that acted as such a beacon of light to attract the “soccer moms” is having the opposite effect for the “border moms”, since it’s many of those welfare-type programs that is drawing illegal aliens from all over the world to come here in the first place. When the “soccer moms” eventually realized that they themselves, through their own improving lot in life and paying taxes, were funding those same welfare subsidies, the “help” became a lot less appealing to the group.
And needless to say, Democrats didn’t keep any of their promises regarding providing a better life for the “soccer” cohort, either, since the massive government spending during COVID (approved by both parties, of course) led to rampant inflation, didn’t it? Who forgot how the government sent out stimulus checks to everyone to help battle COVID – and those dollars went to illegal aliens, too.
The badly mislabeled “newcomers” used the government’s largesse to send a lot of what they made back home to Mexico and Guatemala (or wherever they arrived from) rather than using that cash to keep locked-down workers employed during the stoppage. A lot of small businesses could no longer compete – not only because of the slowdown in economic activity, but also because folks who used to work for a living became slaves to the government.
And the “soccer” fields that used to supply so much life were closed by government dictate and the parents told, when they were eventually allowed to come back, to wear masks to “keep everyone safe”, which smart people figured was just a blatant distortion, anyway. The masks probably didn’t save a single person, yet still they can be seen worn by the eternally frightened by government tyrants even today.
I will never forget how my son’s middle school baseball team was told to wear masks when they weren’t on the field, with the catchers, batters and first basemen instructed to keep theirs on the whole time. A first basemen holds a runner on, right? Close contact, even if it’s outside? Does it get any more “stupid”?
Like every other blatant lie that the Democrats told to the “soccer moms”, it was all bogus. I’m not sure that the political exodus is happening in great numbers, but the “moms” are waking up to the notion that Democrats like Obama and Hillary Clinton and senile Joe Biden weren’t straight with them. Government was willing to provide “stuff” to everyone, but they weren’t prepared to do what it took to sidestep “woke” to close the border, devote resources to educating kids, dealing with fentanyl addiction or keeping the streets safe.
And don’t forget schools. The school choice movement has caught fire among red states and it won’t be long before every jurisdiction with a Republican majority and forward-thinking conservative governor will be offering “moms” (and dads, too) the option of choosing non-public schools for their kids. Presumably, “soccer” moms care about their kids’ future prospects more than they do pure abortion on demand.
Trump highlights federal school choice, too. If he’s able to push it along with his other agenda planks, it could make a noticeable difference in the gender gap as well. “Border” moms and “Safety” moms will become “School Choice” moms in addition, giving “choice” an entirely different connotation in today’s vernacular.
Largely through force of personality, Trump has made inroads with many former Republican doubters because the outsider politician/president chose to emphasize issues like immigration, which the DC establishment would prefer to suppress. By Trump’s consistently championing of the “Angel Moms” (and dads) in 2016, the porous southern border received the attention it lacked under the Bush/McCain/Romney ruling class.
Now, it’s said, immigration is the primary concern of the most voters in 2024, along with the usual favorites, the economy and cost-of-living. Immigration ties into all the others on the most important list – and it’s the reason why Trump was able to mount such a miraculous comeback from electoral purgatory, surviving two Democrat impeachment witch hunts and today’s lawfare farce perpetrated by the opposition.
It turns out that the “soccer moms”, along with a lot of people, actually put stock in government that works and politicians who do what they say they’re going to do rather than blather on about “democracy” and Trump being mean and unfit.
One of the main differences between Donald Trump and president senile Joe Biden this year is the former’s concentration on issues and the latter’s fixation with making the election all about personalities and ill-defined matters like “democracy”. If “soccer moms” are changing focus and moving towards the Republicans, it’s because policy counts. Trump should keep it up.
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2024 presidential election