The term “soccer mom” was created by the media to
portray the population of white, suburban, married
females who favored Bill Clinton in the 1996 presi-
dential election. The mythical soccer mom is a mid-
dle- to upper-middle-class mother of two to three
children, is college-educated, and works at least part-
time outside the home. The media focused on soc-
cer since it was the fastest growing sport in the coun-
try for both boys and girls. Families throughout the
United States are involved in the sport, particularly
in the suburbs. Parents of soccer players spend many
evenings and weekends driving to soccer games, pre-
paring snacks, supplying uniforms, and cheering
from the sidelines. The stereotype assumes that
mothers spend more time involved with their chil-
dren’s activities than fathers and that this adds to
their already busy, hectic lives.
Political Gender Gap In the 1992 presidential elec-
tion, polls showed that married, white, suburban
women voted 5-3 for Republican candidate George
H. W. Bush over Democratic candidate Bill Clinton.
This trend reversed in 1996, with these same
women voting 5-4 for Clinton over Republican can-
didate Bob Dole. In reporting on this trend, the me-
dia labeled these suburban women as “soccer
moms,” giving their concerns significant coverage
that effectively swayed the focus of the presidential
debate.
The politics of soccer moms highlight their dedi-
cation to their children, to their aging parents, and
to social concerns for the poor and elderly. Bill
Clinton and the Democratic Party addressed these
issues when they spoke of education, family leave,
teen smoking, V-chips (which allow parental control
over television content viewed by children), pen-
sions, and health care. Bob Dole and the Republican
Party, on the other hand, tended to focus on the
economy and government ineffectiveness.
The role of government is perceived differently
between men and women. Women tend to believe
that government has a moral responsibility to rec-
ognize and address social concerns, while men tend
to view the government as defective and burden-
some. The 1995 Republican-sponsored cuts in social
spending were viewed with apprehension and disap-
proval by many women who saw cuts in programs for
the poor and elderly as radical and dangerous. Many
men, on the other hand, viewed Dole’s promise to
cut taxes by 15 percent as necessary.
Female voters generally preferred Clinton over
Dole. They believed that Clinton was more in tune
with the realities of the 1990’s and with the concerns
of youth. Dole was seen as too old, mean-spirited, and
out of touch with the modern world. He was viewed as
lecturing and impersonal. He spoke out against many
issues valued by the female swing vote, such as abor-
tion rights and the Family and Medical Leave Act. To-
ward the end of his campaign, Dole attempted to ap-
peal to the soccer mom vote. The media had created
the impression that soccer moms, if won over, would
sway the 1996 presidential election, but Dole’s effort
to capture this demographic came too late.Soccer Moms and Women’s Issues With this focus
on the soccer mom, many other women’s issues were
ignored or downplayed. In actuality, suburban soc-
cer moms represented less than 10 percent of the
American public and the voting electorate. Blue-
collar working mothers were also a swing vote in the
1996 presidential election but did not receive the
same media attention. Issues of minority women,
poor women, and feminists were largely ignored. Is-
sues such as welfare reform, abortion, child care, or
sexual harassment were not discussed in the presi-
dential debates. The only women’s issues discussed
were those that reflected a woman’s role as a mother.Impact By focusing on a small section of female
voters identified by the term “soccer moms,” the me-
dia effectively guided the focus of the presidential
debate to issues relevant to middle-class, suburban
families.Further Reading
Carroll, Susan J. “The Disempowerment of the Gen-
der Gap: Soccer Moms and the 1996 Elections.”
PS: Political Science and Politics32, no. 1 (March,
1999): 7-11. The author argues that the framing
of some women as “soccer moms” by the media
actually resulted in the disempowerment of most
women in the 1996 presidential election.
Carroll, Susan J., and Richard L. Fox, eds.Gender and
Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Of-
fers insight into how gender affects contempo-
rary American elections, including the labeling
of some women as “soccer moms” in the 1996
presidential election.
McCormick, John, and John Leland. “The Fight
over the Soccer Moms.”Newsweek, August 26,The Nineties in America Soccer moms 785