Beltway Barbara
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 50-65 |
| Home | Bethesda, MD |
| Demographic | DC suburbs, white, educated professional |
| Lean | Lean Democrat |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Beltway Meredith |
Barbara is a think-tank fellow in her fifties in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. She is a moderate Democrat of the professional class who trusts institutions and experts and dislikes populists from either party.
Who they stand for
Barbara stands for the college-educated professional women of the Washington suburbs and the metropolitan Northeast. These women were Hillary Clinton's strongest voters in 2016 and formed the core of the suburban swing that gave the Democrats control of the House of Representatives in 2018. Montgomery County, Maryland, where she lives, votes Democratic by roughly four to one, and much of the county works for the federal government or for federal contractors. Her formative decade is one in which the institutions she works alongside came under repeated attack. This period includes the firing of FBI Director James Comey in 2017, the 'deep state' rhetoric of the Trump years, the 2019 impeachment proceedings over Ukraine, the Schedule F executive order to reclassify federal employees, and federal government layoffs in 2025.
Beltway Meredith, an earlier persona, lost her faith in government when the intelligence used to justify the Iraq War proved false. Barbara has recovered that faith. The government itself did not improve. Instead, Trump on the right and Sanders on the left both made government institutions their target, and Barbara sides with the institutions being attacked.
Playing to them
Barbara responds well to a president who runs the government through its normal institutions, such as an alliance honoured, the State Department staffed, a court ruling obeyed, and a cabinet made up of people who have done the job before. NATO and the FBI are her tests of a president's seriousness. This puts her alongside Military Mike on defence policy, and against Montana Matt, who sees the same agencies as instruments of surveillance, and against Podcast Pete, who sees them as part of a 'deep state'. She does not forgive a conspiracy theory repeated from the podium, an inspector general fired for doing his job, or a populist attack on expertise from either the left or the right.
A Democratic president who governs from the centre keeps Barbara's support, though it cools the enthusiasm of Brooklyn Jamal and College Chloe, who hear such caution as a betrayal. A Democratic president who governs from the Sanders left keeps the support of Jamal and Chloe, but loses Barbara's respect, although not her vote against a Republican. Rust Belt Rick and Texas Tom regard everything Barbara admires as merely 'Washington', and a president cannot hold their support and hers at the same time.
Where they live
The five states where Beltway Barbara makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- Vermont
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
Lineage
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.