A Desperate Plea to 1950s "Suburban Women"

Campaign messaging

Source: Image by Rosa Pineda on Wikimedia Commons

Just like many Americans, I've been watching the election coverage very closely and asking myself, which candidate will bring some degree of peace to an America that is currently ravaged by political polarization, the scourge of a global pandemic, unemployment, sadness, anger as well as frustration about racial disparity, immigration woes, and more? America is a big, hot mess right now and we need a leader who will calm the heat, reassure the worried, empathize with the sick, and lead us into better times.

Who will that be? America will decide in 15 days.

In the meantime, President Trump pleas to "suburban women" to "please like him." I have to admit, it took me weeks to catch on to the idea that, oh! he's talking to me! I'm a suburban woman! [We live in the suburbs of Denver, I guess you could say, though I never think of it that way. I identify more with the actual town where we live and my community with whom I traffic.]

The 45th President has claimed that he has "saved our neighborhoods" but I don't know exactly what he means. We've lived in our current neighborhood for three years and the only change we've seen is that the older folks have been moving out, and younger (mid-life) folks with kids moving in, which we like because it keeps our neighborhood dynamic and fun for our child. But I know Trump had nothing to do with that. We did have a shady drug house in our neighborhood but the perp's now in jail and, I assume, President Trump had nothing to do with that either. All thanks go to our local police force on that one.

If not the turnover from old to young, exactly what does he mean when he claims to be "saving our neighborhoods"? His critics would say he's racist and he means keeping out people of color. But many of us "suburban women" would welcome diversity in our neighborhoods; I know Boulder, Colorado, is a little pocket of liberalism and progressive ideals, but many families here choose schools based on the notion that their children will interact with international students and hear different languages and learn about different cultures. And the way I see it, that's not ruining our neighborhoods; it's enriching our children's educations and lives.

There is no such body of "suburban women," the suggestion reflects an extremely out of touch and dated mentality. Women who live in the suburbs must comprise, I don't know, a large portion of America's population if defined as women who live in America but don't live in major cities. But how could that population, just by definition, have voting preferences in common?

Some of us are college-educated; others are not. Some of us work at home and manage family life; others have careers outside of the home. Some of us are atheist; others are religious. Some are conservative; others are liberal; still, others have no idea where they fall given the current circus of American politics. To conceptualize "suburban women" as one group who should either like one candidate or not fails to take any of this into account. This thinking is out of touch with what women in the suburbs might be doing, thinking, saying, wondering, and ultimately, how they will vote.