Lineage

This page lists the thirty lineages that connect the voters of the Nineties cast, the 2000s cast and the Modern cast. Each lineage is one type of voter followed across three decades. When a career game crosses from one era into the next, each voter's recognition and favourability scores are carried over to the successor named here, and the presidency game changes its cast in the same way. The description of each lineage was written by the game's author and explains what changes between the three voters and why.

Madison Steph → Protest Paige → College Chloe

The same type of voter in three decades: a young, white, university-educated woman on the left who marches and votes every time. What changes is the cause she campaigns on and where she gets her politics from. Steph campaigns on feminism, still an open fight after the Thomas confirmation. Paige campaigns against the Iraq war and the Patriot Act, and gets her politics from Michael Moore and the liberal blogs. Chloe treats feminism as won and campaigns on climate, trans rights and Palestine, and gets her politics from social media. Her position on the spectrum, her turnout and her contempt for Republicans are the same in all three.

Dot-Com Drew → Startup Seth → Podcast Pete

The same type of man: young, white, clever, libertarian on economics, not religious, uninterested in moral questions. What changes is whether the tech industry employs him, and where his energy goes as a result. Drew and Seth work in tech, and their politics are the industry's: deregulation, low capital gains tax, more H-1B visas. Pete does not, because H-1B hiring and diversity hiring have made it hard for a young white man to get in, and he works in sales. Drew and Seth put their energy into startups. Pete puts his into podcasts, YouTube, Twitter and crypto, and comes away with a grievance: everything is unfair on men like him. That is partly true and partly the effect of what he listens to. On economics all three are the same: low taxes, no welfare. The difference is that Pete cares about the moral and cultural questions, race, sex, gender and speech, which Drew and Seth never did, and he takes the right's side on all of them.

Lejeune Dustin → Fort Hood Cody → Military Mike

Three patriotic men who served, Republican by habit. What changes is their mood. Dustin is a patriot of the post-Cold War era: America has won, it is the best country in the world and it polices the world, and he is proud and optimistic. Cody is a patriot of the post-9/11 era, and he wants revenge. Mike is a patriot of the post-war-on-terror era: he served in the Afghan occupation, saw how it went, and is sceptical, more lucid and less emotional than Cody. He has come to value NATO and the alliances. Optimistic, then vengeful, then sober.

Baltimore Kiana → Greensboro Jasmine → Atlanta Andre

The Black Democrat whose family moves from welfare to the middle class in one generation. Kiana is the welfare mother the 1996 reform was aimed at. Jasmine is her daughter at college, angry at the government over Katrina and quick to call things racist. Andre is Jasmine in her thirties: a teacher, voting Democrat every time, frustrated that the party talks about culture wars instead of schools and health care. The party loyalty does not change. The anger becomes pragmatism as the family becomes middle class. The line is defined by race and class, not by sex.

Rio Grande Ofelia → Mesa Ruben → Phoenix Pablo

The Mexican-American swing voter whose family has been in the Southwest for generations. None of the three has a fixed ideology. Their vote depends on whether Republicans are attacking immigrants in a way that includes them. Ofelia inherited a Democratic vote and is drifting Republican over abortion and because the Democrats take her for granted. Ruben is pushed back toward the Democrats by Sheriff Arpaio's sweeps and the Minutemen, because that enforcement targets people who look like him. Pablo owns a business and nobody questions his status, so he votes on taxes and abortion again. Across thirty years the drift is rightward, interrupted by the one decade in which Republican immigration enforcement was aimed at him.

East LA Jazmín → Las Vegas Marisol → Vegas Danny

Young Latino service workers in union jobs. Jazmín and Marisol vote Democrat for two reasons: the union tells them to, and they remember Proposition 187 as an attack on their families. Danny has the same union job and neither reason. He was too young for 187, and he does not think the union has done anything for him. So he keeps the union card, feels no loyalty to the Democrats, and votes on tips, rent and the price of gas. A loyal vote becomes a swing vote in one generation because the reasons for the loyalty were not passed down. The union job and the memory of 187 define the line, not sex.

Central Valley Ramón → Bakersfield Jesús → Valley Rosa

The Latino immigrant family: left on economics and cautious on abortion because Catholic, in all three decades. What changes is which issue decides the vote. Ramón and Jesús vote on immigration, because their crews and relatives have no papers, and nothing else matters to them as much. Rosa was born here and never had to think about legal status, so she votes on the cost of raising two children: Medicaid, childcare, the child tax credit. Immigration decides the vote only for the generation whose status is in doubt.

Coral Gables Orlando → Hialeah Gladys → Miami Maria

Cuban-American anti-communists, one step weaker in each generation as the distance from Cuba grows. For Orlando, who left Cuba as a child, Castro decides every issue. For Gladys the anti-communism is inherited from her parents and confirmed by the Elián case and the Iraq war. For Maria, Castro is dead and the anti-communism is directed at Bernie Sanders and at anyone who uses the word socialism. Their Catholicism weakens at the same rate: Maria supports abortion rights, which Orlando and Gladys would never say. Strong Republican, then strong Republican, then lean Republican.

Koreatown Daniel → Little Saigon Tuan → Edison Chen

Asian small-business owners, for low taxes and against affirmative action in all three decades. For Daniel and Tuan the politics come from one event each: the Los Angeles riots for Daniel, the fall of Saigon for Tuan. For Chen there is no such event, and his politics are about his children's university admissions. He has moved from lean Republican to swing because the Republicans still agree with him on admissions but now talk about immigrants in a way that includes him, and because he supports abortion rights.

Daly City Marilou → Fremont Anjali → Bay Area Priya

Immigrant professional women in the Bay Area, Democrats in all three decades and further left in each. Marilou is a Catholic nurse: for the union and health spending, against abortion. Anjali is a non-religious engineer: for skilled immigration and science funding, against affirmative action because it threatens her daughter's admissions. Priya is the daughter's generation: a software engineer who supports the Green New Deal and Bernie Sanders. Each is further left because her workplace is further left, and the religion is gone by the third. Priya got into a good university and never thinks about how, so Anjali's admissions concern is invisible to her.

Tempe Kurt → Drywall Josh → Disconnected Dylan

Young white men without a plan, and what differs is whether a man like that can still build a life in that decade's economy. In the nineties he can: Kurt drifts through his twenties and still ends up with a job, a mortgage and a family, and he is probably Dylan's father. In the 2000s the housing boom pays Josh well for unskilled work until 2008. In the 2010s Dylan gets nothing: no route into university, and the jobs that once paid a man of average ability are gone, so he works in a warehouse and ignores politics. He and Pete are both shut out. Pete becomes more political because of it and Dylan becomes less.

Dunwoody Amanda → Beltway Meredith → Beltway Barbara

Professional women, moderate Democrats, and what changes is her attitude to the government. Amanda assumes the system works because it has worked for her. Meredith works for a government contractor, believed the government about Iraq, and learned it lied, so she now votes on competence. Barbara defends the FBI, the State Department and NATO because Trump and Bernie both attack them. She takes the government for granted, then distrusts it, then defends it.

Bergen Vinny → NASCAR Doug → Grill Dad Greg

The suburban father without an ideology, the same in every decade. He votes on the property tax, his health premium, interest rates and whether the president seems steady, and the only thing that changes is which cost is rising: petrol in 1995, the premium in 2006, inflation in 2019. The one exception is Doug, who supported Bush and the Iraq war after 9/11 for about three years. Greg has no such cause and votes for whichever party seems less extreme.

Plano Kimberly → Megachurch Heather → Heartland Hank

Evangelical strong Republicans, and what changes is whether they are trying to ban things or trying to protect themselves. Kimberly's church organises her whole social life, and its politics reach her without her noticing them as politics. Heather's church is a political organisation that passes marriage amendments and fights for Terri Schiavo. By 2019 the marriage fight is lost and abortion has gone to the Supreme Court, so Hank's evangelical politics are defensive: he wants to be left alone and respected, and he votes for Trump, who is nothing like a Christian, because Trump fights the people Hank believes are attacking him. The line is the evangelical vote, which does not depend on sex.

Mingo County Crystal → Pike County Brenda → Appalachian Amber

Appalachian white women and the opioid crisis in three stages. In 1995 the pills are reaching Crystal's family before anyone calls it a crisis. In 2006 Brenda's daughter is addicted. In 2019 Amber treats the overdoses as a nurse. The vote follows. Crystal rarely votes. Brenda inherited a Democratic vote and votes Bush over guns, religion and her son in the Army. Amber has given up on both parties and votes for whoever funds addiction treatment and the local hospital. Amber is Brenda's daughter who did not take the pills.

Castro Marty → Berkeley Leonard → Woodstock Allen

The gay and New Left activist of the AIDS generation, whose political engagement is total because the epidemic forced it on him. What changes is what he is fighting for. Marty is fighting for his friends' lives. Leonard is fighting for his marriage, which was granted and then revoked by the court. Allen has won the marriage fight and is fighting for his own Medicare and health. The politics do not change. The stakes get smaller, and his tone goes from angry to panicked because he is fighting as hard as before for less.

Bitterroot Dale → Flathead Wade → Montana Matt

Same guns, same reading of the Constitution, a different enemy and a different information source each decade. Dale's enemies are the ATF and the FBI after Ruby Ridge and Waco, and he hears about them on shortwave radio. Wade's are the Patriot Act and the Federal Reserve, and he hears about them from Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Matt's are federal surveillance and red-flag gun laws, and he hears about them online. Each is less armed and more online than the last. Dale stood outside both parties. Matt votes Republican as a libertarian.

Levittown Maureen → Security Mom Donna → Suburban Sarah

Suburban swing women who vote on competence and character, except in one decade. Donna, after 9/11, votes on national security because her husband is a police officer who worked at Ground Zero, and turns back when the government neglects the sick responders. Maureen before her and Sarah after her have no side. Sarah voted Obama, then Trump, then Biden. Donna is the only one of the three who picked a side, and she picked it for her family's safety, not for an ideology.

Columbus Sherry → Dayton Tammy → Plain Jane

Ordinary working women who vote on the health premium, the rent and whichever candidate seems less exhausting. One thing changes in thirty years. Sherry and Tammy are torn on abortion and never vote on it. Jane votes on it, because the Dobbs decision put it on her ballot.

Bay Ridge Kevin → Chattanooga Travis → Union Jack

Union members who vote conservative, and what changes is how far the union vote and the conservative vote have separated. Kevin votes issue by issue and still votes Democrat on pay and pensions. Travis keeps the union card for the pension and votes Republican on guns, abortion and marriage, ignoring the union's endorsement. Jack keeps the card and votes Trump on trade, immigration and woke politics. Religion decided Travis's vote and plays no part in Jack's, because marriage was lost, abortion went to the Court, and the cultural issues of 2019 are ones Jack cares about without going to church. The union endorsement goes from binding, to ignored, to irrelevant.

Ozark Wayne → Janesville Gary → Rust Belt Rick

The Perot voter who becomes the Trump voter. Wayne is patriotic and hostile to the federal government at the same time, and votes Perot. Gary voted Perot, hates NAFTA, and votes Bush as the lesser evil. Rick votes Trump, who campaigns on exactly Rick's grievances: tariffs, Buy American, contempt for the college-educated. The grievance is the same throughout, and moves from the Vietnam aftermath, to the plant closing, to the country's decline. By 2016 a major party runs on it. Rick is the first of the three who is not a swing voter.

Scarsdale Ellen → Park Slope Dana → Rachel Goldstein

Jewish liberal women, and what changes is how Israel fits with the rest of their politics. For Ellen there is no conflict: liberals support Israel. For Dana, Israel is the one issue on which she breaks with the civil-liberties left. For Rachel, the left has turned against Israel and she is caught between her party and her community. Her contempt for the Republican right is the same in all three. Her fear of the left is new.

Anaheim Darlene → Fox News Phyllis → Renter Ryan

White swing voters who move right because of a change that liberals will not discuss, and who deny that the move is ideological. Darlene's change is the demographics of her town. Phyllis's is the border. Ryan's is the cost of a house. The persona changes from a frightened older woman to a priced-out young man because what has been lost is no longer a neighbourhood but the ability to marry and have children. All three resent being called bigots.

Main Street Don → Abilene Ray → Texas Tom

Small-town business Republicans, and what changes is that the courtesy goes and grievance replaces it. Don belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and votes Bob Dole, and is populist only when Walmart takes his trade. Ray belongs to the Chamber and the church, is Bush's base, and is civil to the liberals at Rotary. Tom is not civil: government is the problem, coastal elites run the country, and woke is the enemy. The town lost to Walmart, then his church's side lost on marriage, and anger is what remains. Swing, then strong Republican.

Country Club Chip → Country Club Whit → Country Club Craig

The one line where the man does not change and the party does. In every decade he is fiscally conservative, for free trade, indifferent to social issues, and embarrassed by the populists and the religious right. Chip's wing of the party loses to Buchanan. Whit's has Bush and loses him over the deficit and the Christian right. Craig's has Trump and votes for him reluctantly. The same reluctant Republican vote three times.

Bensonhurst Rosalie → Snowbird Angela → Detroit Denise

The New Deal Democrat, and the one pairing the cast forces across race. Rosalie votes her parents' party. Angela votes Kennedy's party and votes Bush once after 9/11. Denise votes the union's party. Their politics are the same: Social Security, the union, workers against bosses. What changes is who holds those politics. The white ethnic Catholic left the Democratic coalition over these thirty years, and by 2019 the old labour Democrat is Black.

Cullman Eula → Jasper Faye → Iowa Martha

The church lady. Her issue changes each decade because the previous one was lost: abortion, then marriage and Schiavo, then transgender and woke. Her information source changes from the church, to the church and Fox News, to Fox News alone. Her certainty that her side would win becomes the belief that America has lost its way. The voter is the same in Alabama and in Iowa.

North Philly Arlene → Sister Loretta → Gospel Gloria

The Black church woman: socially conservative and a Democrat without exception, and she sees no conflict between the two, in all three decades. The one thing that changes is her view of the police. Arlene wants more of them on her street. Loretta, a nurse, pities the young men they shoot. Gloria hears younger Democrats say defund the police and disagrees. Her economic issues age with her, from Medicaid and schools to Social Security and Medicare.

Brownsville Deon → Milwaukee Marcus → Brooklyn Jamal

The young Black man, who goes from ignoring politics to organising, because universities and nonprofits began recruiting young Black men in the 2010s. Deon does not vote and is consulted by nobody. Marcus is cynical and votes when he votes. Jamal is admitted to a university and hired by a nonprofit, becomes a community organiser, and writes about Black Lives Matter in a way Deon never would have. He is Pete's opposite. Institutions shut the young white man out and recruit the young Black man, and both become political because of it.

Bayou Earl → Bayou Curtis → Bayou Clarence

The same man on the same bayou, and what changes is that his position acquires an argument. Nobody from either party ever asks Earl why he votes Republican. Curtis criticises the federal government's Katrina response from the pulpit and votes Republican anyway. Clarence has Tim Scott and a complete argument that the Democrats are the real party of racism. The Republican Party has finally made his case for him, and he repeats it.