Bensonhurst Rosalie
 | |
| Era | The Nineties |
|---|---|
| Age | 65-80 |
| Home | Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY |
| Demographic | urban white Italian, widow, Silent Generation |
| Lean | Swing voter |
| Race | white |
| Successor | Snowbird Angela |
Rosalie is an Italian-American widow who has lived on the same Brooklyn block since the 1950s. She is a lifelong Democratic voter by family tradition, but she is conservative about personal conduct and is quietly leaving the party without ever announcing it.
Who they stand for
Rosalie stands for the white ethnic Catholic voters of the New Deal coalition in its final decade. Her generation gave John F. Kennedy his margin of victory in 1960, and then split apart during the 1960s. Her neighbourhood of Bensonhurst, along with Canarsie and Howard Beach, became known nationally for resisting racial integration, and after the killing of Yusuf Hawkins in 1989, for something worse. By the 1990s this bloc is elderly, votes heavily, and is available to either party. It elected Rudy Giuliani mayor in 1993, kept Al D'Amato in the United States Senate until 1998, and still sent Democrats to the state legislature in Albany and to the City Council. Rosalie's politics is about personal conduct rather than political doctrine. She cares about order on the street, respect for the police and the church, and the old rules of public behaviour. Social Security and Medicare are the reasons she remains a registered Democrat. Her successors show how this changes over time. Snowbird Angela, playing the same role later, votes for George W. Bush once, after the September 11 attacks. By 2019, the New Deal Democrat holding Rosalie's political position is Detroit Denise, who is Black.
Playing to them
Rosalie is won by a president who behaves like a responsible adult. Visible policing, a firm line on drugs and vandalism, the death penalty, respect for the church, and a steady approach to Social Security and Medicare cover the whole of what she wants, and a president who presides over a quiet, orderly year keeps her support. She will not forgive disorder or vulgarity. A scandal in the White House, a president who defends offensive television content, or a president seen as soft on crime all fall below her standard. She is the one swing voter among the cast's personas for whom Rudy Giuliani's mayoralty is a positive example rather than a warning.
Winning Rosalie's support costs little among other older white voters and much among younger ones. Brownsville Deon and Tempe Kurt represent exactly the kind of behaviour she disapproves of. Castro Marty and Madison Steph hear a defence of traditional standards as the Catholic Church speaking through the president. Bay Ridge Kevin, who wants the same kind of order that Rosalie wants, comes along with her for free.
Where they live
The five states where Bensonhurst Rosalie makes up the largest share of the electorate in the nineties:
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- New York
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
Lineage
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.