ATLANTA (NewsNation Now) — Whether Reagan Democrats in the 1980s, or soccer moms in the early 2000s, different voter demographics have often played an outsized role in American political campaigns.
In 2020, it’s believed that suburban women could be that bloc of voters to turn the election, and outside of Georgia’s capital, that dynamic is in full play.
“Even 20 years ago, when you talked about suburban Georgia, that often meant ‘lily-white Republican,’ but that’s begun to change a lot over the years,” said Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Tamar Hallerman.
Hallerman has seen some marked shifts among women in the Atlanta area since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
“A lot of them took their friend’s words for it that Trump would be better for the economy, for health care, kind of traditional issues that really motivate this bloc of voters and many of them regret it,” Hallerman said.
One of those voters is Diana Hise, a professional and a mother of three in Dacula, which is about 45 minutes northeast of downtown Atlanta.
The lifelong Republican voted for Trump in 2016.
“It was one of those where ‘OK, I’m a Republican, he is a new face to what we are trying to do and he is a change in my opinion,'” she said. “It didn’t turn out like we wanted it to, right?”
Hise has already cast her ballot this year.
Michael Shure: So you voted for Joe Biden?
Hise: Correct.
Shure: And how did that feel for you after having voted for Republicans for so many years?
Hise: You know, at first, kind of betrayal. I think you could say that. It felt odd.
Over in Marietta, Carminthia Moore voted for Trump in 2016 and can’t wait to do the same again this year.
“As a suburban woman voter, I need for the government to get out of my school system,” she said.
Moore’s politics adhere to much of the Republican platform.
“I need for my taxes not to go up,” Moore said. “I need for us to have less government and more local and personal responsibility.”
It hasn’t always been that way for Moore.
“I voted for Barack Obama in ’08,” Moore said. Since then, she has seen her politics change.
“I had to do a reconciliation and in doing that reconciliation it brought me to the conclusion that I was definitely a conservative,” she said.
Regardless of the differences, these two mothers are both motivated by what the suburbs offer.
“Part of the reason we move out here away from the city is to try to provide a better life for our children,” Hise said.
“That’s the great thing about America, is that we can agree to disagree, however being from both sides of the track, being from inner-city coming to suburbia, I think I have a little bit more insight,” Moore sad.
And this year, a little more of a voice.
“I think the past four years has made our opinions and how we feel about how things are moving very strong together as a group,” Hise said.
