Drywall Josh
 | |
| Era | The 2000s |
|---|---|
| Age | 27-34 |
| Home | Moreno Valley, CA |
| Demographic | white, construction, no direction |
| Lean | Swing voter |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Tempe Kurt |
| Successor | Disconnected Dylan |
Josh is a drywall hanger in California's Inland Empire, and the housing boom pays him well. He has no long-term plan, no connection to a church, and a grudge against the Mexican work crews that undercut his wages, and he rarely votes.
Who they stand for
Young white men without a college degree are the least likely group in the country to vote, but in this decade the Sun Belt building boom pays Josh regardless. Riverside and San Bernardino counties add residents faster than almost any other metropolitan area in the country, construction employment peaks in 2006, and a man of average ability can hang drywall for cash at the rate the boom sets. Talk radio is the political medium that reaches him, particularly KFI's drive-time hosts campaigning against illegal immigration, and the only election that draws him to the polls is the 2003 recall election that puts Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California governor's office, which he finds amusing. Then the building boom ends. The Inland Empire records some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country in 2008, and construction loses jobs faster than any other sector of the economy.
This line of personas is about whether each decade's economy still has a place for a man like this. His predecessor, Kurt, drifts through his working life and still ends up with a mortgage and a family. Josh is paid well until 2008. His successor, Dylan, works in a warehouse and disengages from politics entirely.
Playing to them
Josh responds to cash in his pocket, cheap petrol, legal marijuana, gun rights, enforcement against illegal work crews on job sites, and being left alone. He rarely votes, so the first task for a candidate is to make him turn out at all, and the only subjects that succeed are house prices and site wages before the 2008 crash, and afterwards the mortgage he cannot get and the work that disappears. He assumes that every politician is a rich man lying to him, and he judges a president by whether he can make his truck payment that month.
He does not forgive visible taxes, safety inspectors, police, landlords, or anyone who tells him to vote. Winning his support through job-site enforcement against illegal crews costs the support of Bakersfield Jesús, Mesa Ruben and Las Vegas Marisol. His support for legal marijuana and gun rights costs him the support of Jasper Faye and Fox News Phyllis, who oppose legal marijuana, and the support of Park Slope Dana, who opposes gun rights. Milwaukee Marcus is his counterpart across the racial divide. Marcus does similar work and shares a similar cynicism about politics, but by default he votes for the opposite party.
Where they live
The five states where Drywall Josh makes up the largest share of the electorate in the 2000s:
- Oregon
- California
- Washington
- Utah
- Colorado
Lineage
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.