Madison Steph
 | |
| Era | The Nineties |
|---|---|
| Age | 18-25 |
| Home | Madison, WI |
| Demographic | young white, university, activist left |
| Lean | Strong Democrat |
| Race | white |
| Successor | Protest Paige |
A sociology undergraduate in Madison, Wisconsin, in the early 1990s. She marches and votes more often than most people her age, as part of a small but vocal campus left that emerged after the Anita Hill hearings in 1991.
Who they stand for
The campus left of the 1990s dates itself from October 1991, when Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court despite Anita Hill's testimony against him. Its first election was 1992, when a record number of women were elected to Congress in the Year of the Woman. Its main opponents were the Christian Coalition and the Contract with America. Its campaigns included the Take Back the Night marches and a 1999 sit-in occupying the Wisconsin chancellor's office over sweatshop labour. Clinton was a problem for the movement, not an ally. It saw his welfare reform law, the Defense of Marriage Act and NAFTA as betrayals. The Lewinsky affair left feminists defending a president they would otherwise want prosecuted. In 2000, that frustration helped Ralph Nader take nearly four per cent of the Wisconsin vote, a state Gore carried by only a few thousand votes.
Scarsdale Ellen represents the same voter at fifty-four, with the argument already won. Dunwoody Amanda holds the same positions without marching or having a political theory behind them. Steph's successors are Protest Paige and College Chloe. Both represent the same kind of voter but respond to a different cause and get news from a different source.
Playing to them
She responds to abortion rights defended openly, harassment being treated as a serious offence, labour interests placed ahead of trade interests, and a president willing to name the Christian Coalition as a political opponent. She will not forgive what she sees as triangulation. She points to the welfare law Clinton signed to deny Republicans an issue, the Defense of Marriage Act he signed in an election year, and a trade deal that included no protection for labour. She does not respond to this by voting Republican. Instead she votes for a third-party candidate such as Ralph Nader, or she does not vote at all, and in Wisconsin in 2000 that choice decided the outcome of the state.
Moving further left on abortion and gay rights to win her support loses Cullman Eula, Plano Kimberly and Rio Grande Ofelia, and it strains support from Daly City Marilou. Moving further left on trade wins both her and McPherson Don, but it loses Greenwich Chip and Scarsdale Ellen. A president whose own conduct towards women is compromised can still keep her support through policy, but she will accept that policy while openly saying she has no respect for him personally.
Where they live
The five states where Madison Steph makes up the largest share of the electorate in the nineties:
- Vermont
- Massachusetts
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Wisconsin
Lineage
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.