The Security Mom Myth

[Tempest]

The Security Mom Myth
The idea of security moms profoundly misrepresents who women are and what they worry about politically.

By Anna Greenberg

http://www.alternet.org/story/20036/

Editor's Note: This report comes from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research <http://www.greenbergresearch.com/campaigns_us/publications.php>, a public opinion and strategic research company.

In the past weeks, we have seen numerous articles and commentaries discussing John Kerry's problem with women. As the argument goes, Kerry is losing women and that this erosion is rooted in their deep-seeded concerns about security. Women simply trust George Bush more than Kerry to keep them safe and they drop off from Kerry as they are less confident he can handle the war on terrorism and homeland security. The fabled "security moms" lead this charge, as they worry about the safety of their children especially after being exposed to the images of terrorism in Russia and rising terrorist attacks around the world. These "key" women voters, it is said, want to hear more about security from Democrats and Kerry.

There are a number of problems with these arguments and they profoundly misrepresent who women are and what they worry about politically. Let me take each assertion in turn:

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[Union Thug]

1. Finally...

I wanted to vomit every time I heard the term "security mom". I thought it was bullshit the first time I heard it and now I see others are questioning it too.. Excellent.

[rockymountaindem]

4. I don't think that article is very uplifting at all.

[robbedvoter]

2. Finally! 2 more arguments: how come none of them lives in NYC?

And am I supposed to believe that events in Chechnia influences ANY American vote? Since when do Americans give a s* what happens to Chechnians or other furriners? (One of the first things I learned upon coming here)

[spooky3]

3. good article, thanks, but one minor point...

She lost me on the arithmetic of what % of women voters are moms. She appears to multiply the % who have children under 18 by the % married, but there is a significant number of unmarried, separated and divorced moms with kids at home under 18. Women with kids are not a subgroup of married women but an overlapping category. This wouldn't greatly change her argument but if I'm understanding her correctly, she ought to check her #s to make the best case possible.

[meegbear]

5. Myth, schmyth. It's a "swift boat" style facade ...

FOX News Channel devoted an entire segment of the September 28 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume to an interview with the president of a conservative front group who attacked Senator John Kerry while pretending to analyze the voting preferences of "this year's crucial target voter," the so-called "security moms."

Carol A. Taber, president of Family Security Matters, presented Bush campaign attacks on Kerry as though they were nonpartisan public opinion data. Taber claimed that married women who once voted Democratic have embraced President George W. Bush for his handling of terrorism but produced no empirical evidence for her claims. In fact, Taber's harsh attacks on Kerry -- along with her total lack of credentials as a public opinion or demographics expert -- indicate that she is a partisan posing as an impartial analyst.

<snip>

For a supposed expert, Taber's knowledge of basic "security mom" facts and figures was noticeably lacking. When Hume asked Taber, "How many security moms is it estimated that there are?" Taber answered: "We won't probably know until the votes have been cast." Taber noted, however, that "we can guess in the sense that ... in the last presidential election, Al Gore carried women by 11 points. And today, there was a Washington Post poll, which you probably saw where President Bush is leading women now by three points."

But as MMFA has pointed out, the September 27 Washington Post/ABC News poll that Taber mentioned revealed that so-called "security moms" are "no more likely than other voters to name the war on terrorism or Iraq as their top voting issue." The same poll found that "only about one in four married women with children -- 24 percent -- rated the war on terrorism as their major concern."

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200409290009

[KharmaTrain]

6. Kudos, Anna...Don't Swallow This Tripe

What the GOOP has manufactured is a label for their Stepford women. These are the same women who hate Clinton and love Sean Hannity...middle-aged "hag-bags"...predominately white and most sporting a southern twang. You hear them on C-SPAN every morning.

What Rove has done is created a label for something that already existed...the 40% of the women who will vote GOOP. It's part of the game plan borrowed from the Fundies...create your parallel universe then energize those within. In the past these women were taken for granted and ignored, but this year their vote means a lot and Rove & Hughes wants them to be on those church busses with bells on their toes. By creating an identity for them, this is what they've done.

In speaking with lots of suburban women in the canvassing calls I make, I can tell you the "Soccer Mom" is very much alive and ready to vote. Her idea of security is health care, having money and a stable economy, education assistance and making sure her children aren't sent off to war.

As we see here on DU, there are many, many women who find this regime repugnant...I tend to think moreso than most men...and this "security mom" crap is strictly more GOOP choir preaching. Independent women don't need to hide behind rich white men.

[RoyalWickedness]

8. I am a Mom

and I am VERY worried about security. I am horribly upset about the state of the world, and the mess the Monkey King has gotten the US into in the Middle East. It bothers me immensely that because he thumbed his nose at the world, we no longer have the allies or support in the world community that we worked so hard to build and maintain for over 200 years, and that more and more people every day are rallying behind causes such as al Qaeda. I am concerned that, by concentrating all of our time, effort and money on his useless war in Iraq, we have left ourselves vulnerable to attacks here at home and ignored the real threats that face us as a nation. I have a son who will be draft age in a couple of years, and I will be damned to Hell if I'm going to see him shipped off to die in the desert somewhere because of George W. Bush's arrogance, greed, and incompetence. I am a Mom concerned about security, and I am voting for John Kerry.

[Sparkly]

10. Welcome to DU, RoyalWickedness

Great post and great name! :hi:

I guess I'm a "security mom" for John Kerry, too. My husband and I frequently work in DC -- including on 9/11. He does work for the Pentagon and other government sites, and I work at a place affected by the anthrax scares; we also went through the "sniper" murders. It's been a scary four years, and if that Chimp gets back in office I don't think I want to keep living here.

[RoyalWickedness]

11. Thanks

I've been lurking around here for a while, but don't post much. Mostly just hang out to read others' posts and try to keep a positive attitude. I don't know how any Mom, or any woman, for that matter could in good conscience vote for this asshat. It's beyond me...

[KharmaTrain]

12. That's The Same Concerns I'm Hearing

As the parent of two teenage children, I don't want them going off to fight for someone's war profiteering and geopolitical game playing. My wife is even more avid about this than I am.

The question I ask of those who claim this regime is keeping them safe...I ask them safe from what and then why are we in trouble? Once you cut through this regime's bullshit and get to the real roots of the issue (and you can do that even with some of the kool-aid drinkers) it's obvious this regime has made us more at risk than safer.

Women know strength is measured in nuance...in the ability to have it and not use it.

Cheers to you for your convictions and spread the word...we need to fight hard since there's so much at stake for us all in the next 30 days.

[stellanoir]

7. hey security moms. . .

how do you feel about your kids being drafted to fight for Halliburton based on bogus intelligence. . .?

Where is the outrage. . .?

[cheshire]

9. As a white married woman I know of at least 20 others just like me so

whatever. I think the numbers are better for Kerry than that.