Plain Jane
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 24-32 |
| Home | Grand Rapids, MI |
| Demographic | young, white, ordinary working woman |
| Lean | Swing voter |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Dayton Tammy |
Jane is a dental hygienist in Grand Rapids in her late twenties, not active online, not an activist, and not partisan. She votes on rent, groceries, and safety, and represents the young working woman political conversation online never notices.
Who they stand for
Jane represents the young woman without a college degree in a mid-sized Midwestern city. She lives in Grand Rapids, in Kent County, Michigan, which Trump carried in 2016 and Biden carried in 2020. She belongs to the largest bloc of young voters and the least discussed one, because she does not post on social media, march in protests, or watch cable news. Her decade was shaped by prices: rent that rose faster than her wages after 2020, groceries and petrol in 2022, childcare she cannot afford, and healthcare bills a hygienist's salary does not cover. She skipped the elections she found tiresome and voted where something concrete was on the ballot.
Columbus Sherry and Dayton Tammy were conflicted about abortion and never voted on it. Jane does vote on abortion, because the Dobbs decision in June 2022 put the issue in front of her, and that November Michigan's Proposal 3 wrote abortion rights into the state constitution with her vote's help. She is part of why young women moved left across the 2020s while young men moved right. She is College Chloe's counterpart, the same age and position on abortion, with no interest in activism.
Playing to them
Jane responds to prices. Rent, groceries, petrol, childcare, and her health insurance premium are what get her attention, and a president who lowers any of them has it. A president who protects abortion access, IVF, and paid maternity leave has her vote. She wants the streets around her car park to feel safe and the news to feel calm. She will not forgive inflation, an abortion ban, or being talked down to. A president who lectures her from the left about identity loses her support just as quickly as one who lectures her from the right about morality, because both sound to her like unnecessary drama.
Holding her support on abortion costs the support of Iowa Martha, Heartland Hank, Gospel Gloria, and Bayou Clarence. Holding her support on prices costs almost nobody's support, which is why she is worth the effort to win. She tends to move together with Grill Dad Greg and Suburban Sarah on the cost of living, but she moves apart from them on abortion. A Republican can keep the support of all three only by keeping the Dobbs decision out of any federal law on abortion.
Where they live
The five states where Plain Jane makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- South Dakota
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- Wyoming
- Montana
Lineage
Columbus Sherry → Dayton Tammy → Plain Jane
Ordinary working women who vote on the health premium, the rent and whichever candidate seems less exhausting. One thing changes in thirty years. Sherry and Tammy are torn on abortion and never vote on it. Jane votes on it, because the Dobbs decision put it on her ballot.