Gospel Gloria
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 60-75 |
| Home | Birmingham, AL |
| Demographic | Black, church elder, Southern |
| Lean | Strong Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Predecessor | Sister Loretta |
Gloria is a church deaconess in her sixties in Birmingham, Alabama, retired from the Post Office. She is a Black church elder whose Democratic vote has not changed since the civil-rights era, and her socially conservative views have never affected that vote.
Who they stand for
Gloria represents older Black women in the Deep South, the most loyal voters that either party has. They gave Doug Jones his Alabama Senate seat in 2017, voting for him in near-unanimous numbers, and they chose Biden over Sanders in the South Carolina primary in 2020, a result that effectively ended that year's Democratic primary race. Her decade begins with the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, an Alabama case that released her state from the requirement to get federal approval before changing its voting laws, allowing the voter-identification laws she opposes to take effect. Her decade also includes the death of John Lewis in 2020 and the voting-rights bill named after him, which the Senate did not pass. Her economic priorities have changed as she has aged, moving from Medicaid and school funding earlier in her life to Social Security and Medicare now.
She differs from Sister Loretta, a nurse in the 2000s who felt sympathy for the young men shot by police, because Gloria heard younger Democrats in 2020 call to defund the police and disagreed. Her socially conservative views on abortion and the family have never once changed her vote.
Playing to them
Gloria supports a president who protects Social Security and Medicare, passes a voting-rights bill, honours the civil-rights generation by name, and visits her church without bringing a camera crew. Her vote for the Democratic Party is unconditional, so what a president is really working to win is her enthusiasm, and in the Black Belt counties of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, her enthusiasm affects whether everyone she knows turns out to vote. She does not forgive a voter-identification law, a cut to benefits, or a sign of sympathy towards the hard right. A president who legalises drugs or talks about defunding the police loses her approval, though not her vote.
Winning her support on policing loses the support of Brooklyn Jamal. Winning her support on voting rights loses the support of Iowa Martha, Texas Tom, and Bayou Clarence, who describes her loyalty to the party as the party's oldest trick. Her views on abortion match Clarence's exactly, so a Democrat who expands abortion rights in order to hold the support of College Chloe and Bay Area Priya loses some of Gloria's warmth towards the party, but never loses her vote.
Where they live
The five states where Gospel Gloria makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Alabama
- South Carolina
- Georgia
Lineage
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.