Why female voters from the US suburbs are so important

If you drive south from Chicago, you first pass through the run-down neighborhoods of the South Side. Then the landscape suddenly turns green. There are meadows, fields and forests to the left and right of the road. You might think this is the rural area – but then the suburbs appear. These are often not much more than a collection of single-family homes. There is hardly a center in the European sense. People meet in the strip malls, which are rows of shops and fast-food restaurants paired with large parking lots.

The Plaza in Timijanel Boyd Odom’s Olympia Fields neighborhood is one of those typically American non-places. Boyd Odom suggests that we meet at the Batter and Berries cafe, which is located between a beauty salon, a gym, and a small supermarket. TV shows are playing on several screens, the music is loud. The menu includes waffles and burgers.

The proverbial “soccer mom” is rare today

Boyd Odom is president of the Democratic Women of the South Suburbs. There is still a stereotype that women in the American suburbs are mainly white mothers and housewives who drive their children to school in the morning and to music lessons or sports activities in the afternoon. In the 1990s, the term “soccer moms” became popular to describe these voters. In fact, Boyd Odom is probably more representative of the majority of today’s suburban women, at least in Illinois. She is a lawyer and runs a law firm with colleagues in Flossmoor, near Olympia Fields. She is divorced and has four children. As an African-American, she is also a symbol of the increasing diversity of the American suburbs.

On September 10, Boyd Odom hosted a watch party for the presidential debate in a nearby restaurant. “It was a complete success,” she says enthusiastically. “So many more people came than expected.” The women continued to discuss the debate long after the end of the TV debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris. Like many observers in the country, Boyd Odom notes that Harris’ candidacy mobilizes women who might not otherwise have voted. The topic of abortion in particular sparked heated discussions at the debate party. The women agreed with Harris that Trump and his candidate for vice president, JD Vance, want to take the country back to the 1950s with their policies.

Women vote more often than men

Why are the suburbs, and especially the women there, so important for the election? Several factors play a role. In general, most rural voters in the USA vote Republican, while urban voters tend to vote Democrat. The suburbs, on the other hand, lie between these two poles. They are often of mixed opinion and therefore highly contested and decisive in the election. One important characteristic is whether the new arrivals in a particular suburb come from the countryside or the cities. Boyd Odom, for example, comes from the city. She and her family moved to the suburbs because she expected a better quality of life there – less crime, less traffic jams and less noise. But she brought with her her typical urban preference for the Democrats, in contrast to the more conservative arrivals from the countryside.

America’s suburbs are also getting bigger. An estimated 52% of Americans live in such communities, and experts are talking about a “suburbanization” of the country. Politically speaking, the suburbs play a similar role to the swing states. Most states tend to lean either toward the Democrats or the Republicans, as do the cities and rural areas. But both parties see opportunities to win votes in the suburbs and swing states – perhaps the decisive votes that will make the difference.

And contrary to popular belief, women vote more often than men, so it’s crucial for politicians to appeal to female voters. This is especially true in this election, where reproductive health issues – abortion, in vitro fertilization, contraception, tax breaks for families with children, and Vance’s rants against childless women – are so central.

Harris mobilizes women

Never before has gender played such an important role in a US election. American political observers even speak of a “gender-specific” election.

Jane Ruby, president of the League of Women Voters of Chicago, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to mobilizing female voters, agrees. She notes that Trump relies heavily on white male voters in his campaign – while trying to stoke their resentment at losing out in the age of feminism and diversity. She adds that Harris, by contrast, focuses heavily on issues that affect women, such as abortion, health care, inflation, equality, family, schools, safety, social issues and the environment. Ruby says that made it easy for Harris to use Trump’s misogynistic comments against him.

While turnout was 59% in 2016 and 66% in 2020, Ruby and other analysts predict it could climb even higher this year. Ruby says that’s in part because the two-party system has historically led to a narrow candidate pool. For a long time, she says, the candidates were all white men, and a large portion of the population felt unrepresented. But this time is different. She and others predict that this fact — Harris’s candidacy as a biracial woman — could disproportionately mobilize women and nonwhites who previously felt elections had little to do with them or their lives. Because female voters, especially in the suburbs, tend to lean toward the Democratic Party, higher turnout in turn tends to benefit Democratic candidates.

Lagging behind Europe

For a long time, married couples in the USA voted equally. But in the age of “genderization,” the divide within such couples seems to be deepening. Ruby says she knows many couples in which the man now votes Republican and the woman votes Democrat. “Something is changing here,” she says. “On the one hand, that’s positive in terms of emancipation and autonomy. On the other hand, it’s problematic when the Democrats become the women’s party and the Republicans the men’s party.” She says the division is being driven by both progressive and conservative political forces.

Educational trends and worldviews often lag behind actual changes in the United States, she adds. “Young men are still pushed to think about finances, economics and global affairs, while young women are encouraged to talk about family, home and shopping,” she says. She believes that Harris’ campaign is encouraging women to become more politically active is progress. But it is important to ensure that traditional gender roles are not replicated on the political stage.

Ruby says that although America sees itself as the most modern country in the world, it lags far behind when it comes to the number of women in politics. She doubts that the idea of ​​a woman in the highest office in the country would attract as much attention in Europe. The US also lags behind other industrialized countries in areas such as affordable childcare. This also makes it more difficult for women to be politically active. Finally, Ruby says, it is a strange fact that women make up the majority of voters but are still severely underrepresented among elected officials.

At the end of the interview, Boyd Odom calls her son and then drives to her office, which she set up near her home to better balance her family and professional life. “We suburban women may work and be politically active, but we’re still soccer moms,” she says. That means they may still take their kids to games, but on the sidelines they read reports and make appointments with clients.

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