Replies

"....Just a question. Does anyone know where the "soccer moms" started. I was a soccer mom and most all I know are Conservatives. How did they get such a bad name? Just wondering...."

Political scientists and demographers are ever slicing up the population into sub-groups that exhibit similar voting and purchasing behaviors. The term soccer mom was coined to describe one of these demographic cohorts.

I'm not a practioner, so I will wing the definition. A soccer mom is a caucasian, middle- to upper-middle class suburban resident with children. They may be married or single parents. They may not work outside the home, but typically do.

As for voting patterns, they are shifters. Personal and family security are big issues for SMs. When crime or an external threat makes them anxious, they tend to vote for the Daddy party - the Republicans.

When not feeling insecure they vote for the Mommy party, the party that promises to spend other people's money for the benefit of themselves and their families. Top priorities are public schools, subsidized day care, parks, recreation, universal cadillac health care and just about anything that will occupy their kids' time at someone else's expense. "Reproductive rights" are an important issue for a majority, but not all, soccer moms.

As a rule, soccer moms tend not to be overly concerned about marginal tax rates. They think that big government is a good investment -- it delivers services that they need -- and have little or no understanding of how a free enterprise economy operates. They favor the delivery of services today over long-term economic growth.

Soccer moms were perhaps the most important demo in the 2000 and 2002 elections. During the 1990's they voted for the Mommy party. Disgust over Clinton and 9/11 led them to shift marginally to the Daddy party. The Dems need to reverse this trend or may not recover power in Washington until 2010 or later.

Hope this helps and doesn't ruffle too many feathers.