We live in an extremely populous and geographically large country, one where we celebrate the grand diversity found therein. Well, at least when we’re not trying to pigeonhole people into categories in order to make “trend” theories sound plausible.
For example, the Associated Press reports that white women aged 45-64 are “one of this year’s most hotly contested voting blocs, evenly divided between Barack Obama and John McCain, and wide open to being pulled either way.”
Really. The huge block of white, middle-aged American women are collectively undecided. And they are wide open to being pulled either way. That must be news to most of them.
AP tells us: “These are the Boomer Women — middle-aged children of the post-World War II generation. Many are veterans of balancing jobs with running households, and often acutely aware of their families’ economic pressures because they write the checks, buy the groceries and fill the tank with gas.”
Oh, those women. As opposed to younger and older women, who do the same things, but apparently have made up their minds about how they will vote.
The article further describes the female boomer voting bloc: “They’re feisty, used to demanding answers and making choices.”
Oh, those women. Why didn’t they just say so?
AP tells us that the poll included interviews with 808 likely voters and included interviews with 135 likely white female voters age 45-64, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 8.4 percent.
So, based on interviews with 135 white, middle-aged female voters, the AP article concludes, “As a group, these middle-aged white women have not been swayed by either contender …”
As a group? Yes, poll numbers can be extrapolated, to an extent, but 135 undecided voters doesn’t translate into an “undecided” voting bloc of millions. How would a candidate go about addressing this group?
Well, according to AP, John McCain has targeted middle-aged white women with TV ads, direct mail and phone calls, using a message that focuses on economic concerns. The Obama campaign has run roundtables, blogs and house parties for women and broadcast ads on equal pay and other issues on television shows that attract female viewers.
If you’re a middle-aged white woman and you haven’t gotten a call from McCain, or been invited to a house party by Obama, don’t fret. They know you haven’t made up your mind yet; there’s still time to persuade you, you feisty undecided Boomer woman, you.
The soccer moms, hockey moms and football dads aren’t a united voting bloc, either. That’s diversity for you. Stereotypes don’t work well.
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