Many people here don't know what/who soccer moms and dads are

I thought I should give this it's own thread since I've seen on numerous occasions people who don't know what the term means. In the other thread I posted, which I was flamed on, there were people who said things like "I know soccer moms and dads and they're all right wing morons". This is impossible if they knew what the term meant.

Any polisci student at a halfway decent college will know that the term refers, not to actual parents of kids who play soccer, but a much, much larger demograohic and the most important demo there is.

Soccer moms and dads are 'white, suburban, MIDDLE CLASS, college, educated, married people between the ages of 29 and 59 who regard themselves as INDEPENDANTS.

they are the people who almost always decide presidential elections and a national election can not be won if they perceive a candidate as a whole as further away from the mainstream as another candidate.

I don't think some people here know enough about things of this nature and this is one thing I think people can put away in there noggin

middle-of-the roaders. fiscally conservative, socially liberal. many dual income households.

Some folks out there in freeper land claiming that soccer moms got a thrill from shrub in the flight suit. Oh I'm sorry didn't mean to make you puke.

I have a different definition of a soccer mom. I live in Orange County, CA which in my experience is the soccer mom capital of the world. A soccer mom is a Faith Hill looking woman (Yes they all end up looking like her) with a husband that works as a lawyer, doctor, or high position in a company doing absolutely nothing. A soccer mom has generally more than one kid. The boy has a trendy hip name like keagan or Christian. A soccer mom is absolutely required to drive the biggest Stupid Useless Vehicle available. All soccer moms are "true patriots" and proudly display their bad ass sticker that reads either "United We Stand" or "These colors don't Run." And yes they all vote Republican because their daddy says so. Any liberal minded woman where I live drives a small car usually Honda or Toyota and has kids with names like Adam, Michael, or David. Liberal women here work for a living and don't spend all day at the beauty spa. In my mind soccer moms will not be persuaded to vote democrat because they are generally brainless and most likely hear some kind of strange echoing in their empty noggins. Is that why they all end every sentence like it is a question?

I am going to the store, honey?
Little Jarod has to go play a little league game?
Seth like has piano lessons?

Maybe I am being far too harsh but these eyes have seen enough soccer moms to be absolutely fucking sick of them. I will have no mercy on the trendy bitches.

thanx god

it's not about your opinion. If you thought that's what it meant it's no big deal but you were mistaken

following your post it seems you think that there are only liberals and republicans. And anyone who isn't a compact-car driving liberal is a republican

Also soccer moms and dads aren't rich, they're middle class

I have a hard time taking a Kucinich supporter's political savvy too seriously though.


Sorry

I'm a crazy Kucinich supporter. SO what else is new. Maybe soccer mom is what you say but I just needed to vent a little bit about the going's on where I live and this post seemed somewhat relative. But I do have to say that you are right that soccer moms are middle class however they pretend to be rich. They can always take out another mortgage. Alright Peace Out

Its just another bombtrack. I wish Rage Against the Machine was still around.

WTF am I, "Po' White Trash"????

I have ONE 16 kilobuck little pickup truck, not TWO $50,000 Urban Assault Vehicle. $400-a-month apartment, not a $1300-a--month mortgage payment on some 1/4 Megabuck McMansion, and so on and so forth...

half a million bucks in debt and a combined household income of 140 kilobucks is NOT "middle class"....Please tell me 16 kilobucks of debt and a 39 kilobuck income isn't "Working Poor"...

Because if it IS, I'm gonna shoot myself now and get it over with...

But, much as I hate to admit it, I believe that those of us who make less than 100 Kbucks are, at best, working class.

It's a CLASS issue, not purely an economic one.

The term "working class" refers to blue collar workers. Less education and usually less income, working at manual labor. Some blue collar workers make $100K or more, with overtime.

Their values, attitudes, etc., may be very different from the Middle Class. For example, I once had a professional lobbyist for non-profits tell me, "I have a working class background. We don't care what the neighbors think." I don't know how true that is of the whole working class, but I thought it was an interesting remark.

Anyway, please don't confuse working CLASS with working PEOPLE who may be underpaid.

Eloriel

is thinking that "soccer mom" is just about income. "Soccer moms" ARE middle-class, however being middle-class is not the only charecteristic of "soccer moms". They are also, as bombtrack has already pointed out, suburban, educated, married to professionals, etc.... They are also female, and I believe (though I may be wrong) that you are a male.

I see them as suburban matrons driving either Momvans of SUVs and spending their days cleaning, "doing lunch" and then ferrying their many children to all the activities that overscheduled, privileged suburban kids are expected to do.

In other words, these are the flip side of the yuppie males the GOP has come to count on as entirely their own.

The constant squabbling between the GOP and the DLC for these suburbanites is utterly pointless. The real battle should be for the alienated working people out there. Whoever inspires the nonvoting working folks to get to the polls in 2004 will win a landslide.

it's just another term for 'white middle class independants'

It's really bad though if you think that you base your electoral opinions on fringe candidate talking points and not on the overwhelming evidence of years of work from people whose job is politics. Whether in acedamia or paid campaigns, there isn't anyone with half a brain who thinks that independants are the most important group in most areas in the country and the country as a whole.

Why didn't the 50 percent of the country that didn't vote vote green? That's your hypothesis, that every non-voter is a disalusioned ultra-liberal, just waiting for that right democrat

empty headed valley girls of 10-15 years ago all growed up. not mature, just older.

I understand the woman's rant earlier. Raised in Orange County, and lived in South Orange County (which I believe is the area the woman was ranting about)for 15 years until moving to San Diego 2 years ago. You cannot compare the rest of the country to that area. Alot of those women are beyond comprehension.

There exists a variety of "soccer moms."

For instance:

We don't do "soccer" in our household, but we do have a son in
football, swimming and t-ball. Our daughter is into theatre and ballet. Both children have friends in soccer.

We don't live in sunny CA, so we need an SUV just to make it up our 350-foot driveway for 4-5 months out of the year here on the East Coast. We have no public transportation (no taxis, no trains, etc.). We don't even have sidewalks, but rather winding, hilly, narrow roads.

We "moms" transport all the sporty youths in our SUV's to help out with the kids of working moms/dads. It may seem like we have a lot of children when you see us out there, but really, a lot of us are just helping each other out. (I opted for the safest SUV I could afford -- not the biggest.)

My husband and I are both democrats. I'm a stay-at-home mom, while my husband is a professional -- though he is a union guy. If you think raising children full-time isn't work, try it. (I'm dedicated to it, and love it.) I'm also an artist (painter). We have no flags on either of our vehicles, and never have.

I don't know why you have such hatred towards these women, and why you're generalizing to such a degree. Do you have such ugly categories for males too, or is this a mysogynistic thing with you? (Really, even those Toyota and Honda driving chicks might take offense to your tone.)

By the way, there are working women (and men) who don't have time to educate themselves on the issues, and they vote republican because they only catch the 30-second soundbites on Faux news, and/or they're still trying to impress their republican parents. (Are they trendy bitches too in your world?)

By the way, thanks to Title IX, girls play sports too. (You only mentioned boys' names.)

You would NOT have purchased an SUV. Proven to be more likely to be involved in accidents.

I bought the safest one that will hold my children/friends/in-laws. I'm a very safe/defensive driver. Exceedingly safety-oriented. This car would not roll over in any test.

It's not huge, and has good visibility -- and air bags and roll bar type structuring.

I did my research.

my wife was a soccer coach for 6yrs,i`ve been coaching for 18yrs,all two kids played soccer into high school ,one till 8th grade..i guess my wife and i are soccer parents..and after 18yrs i`d say that soccer moms and dads are pretty much middle of the road,centerists..and alot better behaved than baseball parents.....

My son played soccer for 14 years. So, I was, literally, a soccer mom. The other soccer moms were much like me -- fulltime jobs, two or more kids, household incomes in six figures, and moderate politically. I sat on bleachers for 14 years with these parents. The women were often very liberal, like me, and sometimes more conservative. I did not meet any fundamentalist rightwing extremists. My take on the term was that it was this group which significantly helped Clinton win.

Most soccer kids I know play baseball too.

They are either hated, envied, or as you pointed out (and our friends who hate other americans here have proven), misunderstood.

I do agree with the "swing" or "independent" designation.

Dick Morriss. First time I heard the term was during the Clinton-Dole election

but there's some interesting stuff here, including an account of the first time it was used by a pol:

http://www.soccergirls.com/soccergirls/kicasssocmom.html

It tends to be deragatory towards women...

Just a guess.

I do basically hate other Americans. From my trips to Europe Americans seem way to concerned for themselves and not others. We really don't stand united. Time should ideally be spent in the service of others. We've lost that somewhere in the last 4 years.

You dont have children do you?

No kids. Not old enough.

I mean, it shows that you don't have kids.

I wouldn't say they claim to be independent. They are Centrists who consider themselves democrat or republican but are very moderate. The Center (to get those republican and democrats to vote for one canidate) IS the place to get votes.

That being said, the arrogance of Centrist's groups like the DLC is beginning to cloud what it means to be a democrat.

They live in the suburbs and are usually college educated. They go to church and belong to the PTA. Oh they'll tell you they are republicans or democrats or even independents. But on election day, they vote for the fiscally conservative, socially moderate (to liberal) candidate . . . whatever their political affiliation. And they usually DECIDE the election.

now if only DU.com made a tshirt of the avatar you use, that would rock

well a small part anyways ;->

peace

I think of Soccer Moms as middle class suburban white women who favor abortion rights and gun control and are probably tolerant of gay rights, but support Shrub's wars and Joe Lieberman's censorship crusades. They are tolerant but their primary focus is on having a safe, affluent consumerist lifestyle. Their husbands are probably more likely to be the ones voting Republican.

go to the back room at the video rental store too!!!

he thinks they have all become security moms

I vote for the democratic nominee period.

...at least IMHO, it's also a group that can be easily "spooked" into supporting restrictive or oppressive measures by raising the spectre (sometimes true, sometimes false, almost always exaggerated) of a threat to their kids. When someone tries to sell their pet program as "for the sake of the children", Soccer Moms are one of the prime targets for that pitch.

I don't think of myself as a soccer mom, although someone else might. I haven't really done the suburbia thing (as a 'mom'). I've lived in a small town and out in the middle of nowhere. I grew up in suburbia, however. And I fit most of the other demographics.

My point is - I'm liberal and Dumbya makes me more so. And I think that I have had quite an influence on making my husband more liberal(a lawyer with a working class background who would worry what the neighbors think if we weren't living out in the country). I have also influenced both of my kids so that they are more liberal than they would be.

And I'm more liberal and vocal from reading this website - although I found out about it while I was protesting the war - so I wasn't very moderate to begin with.

And I don't have flags on my car, either.

(Beware of generalizations and don't underestimate the influence of mothers, wherever they are.)

to their practice and their games. Anything else is a stereotype.One that lately has been bandied about again and again by Mr. Limbaugh. We have no set ideology, we don't follow one mold, and believe me, I sure as hell don't look like Faith Hill. My point in a lot of my posts is that stereotyping alienates and shuts people out, and that is not the way to get your message across. I am sick and tired of the soccer mom, blue collar stereotypes that seem to run rampant here.

Someone mentioned in another post, and people wonder why we get called elitists. There's your problem. It's no better than the common freeper. Not every liberal,democrat, green looks like you.

Well said.

"We have no set ideology, we don't follow one mold, and believe me, I sure as hell don't look like Faith Hill. My point in a lot of my posts is that stereotyping alienates and shuts people out, and that is not the way to get your message across. I am sick and tired of the soccer mom, blue collar stereotypes that seem to run rampant here."

i have a problem with polls for much the same reason.

especially the polls that try and label groups of people,and represents them as thinking with one mind.

nt