‘Security Moms’ in Wisconsin Not Easily Labeled After All

Joanne Olson doesn’t know where she fits in these days.

“Middle class, lower class, I don’t know,” she said Sunday as she stood outside her family’s modest rambler in suburban Milwaukee. “I know we can’t just go take trips, we don’t go out to fast food restaurants anytime we want, we fix our own cars.”

Kerry or Bush?

“I used to think Democrats were more for people like me; I think that’s changed.” said the 45-year-old mother of three, a salad cook in a corporate cafeteria. “I guess I think Republicans are more for the upper class, but I’m against abortion. I don’t know who I’m going to pick. It’s still tearing at me.”

Voters like Olson -- married white women who never went to college -- are some of the last holdouts in this election, and they could end up being critical to its outcome. President Bush ran well with this group in 2000, and polls show that, this year, his lead among them has widened.

In battleground states such as Wisconsin, where the race is a statistical tie, Olson’s decision -- and the decisions of thousands like her -- could tip crucial electoral votes into either candidate’s column.

“They are an important part of the story of this election,” said Stan Greenberg, the campaign pollster for Sen. John F. Kerry.

Greenberg said that although polls have shown Kerry leading Bush among all women -- who traditionally lean Democratic -- the senator was trailing among women such as Olson. He also said they were “disproportionately represented among the undecided.”

In a national Times poll conducted in late October, 64% of women in this group said they were supporting Bush and 28% planned to vote for Kerry.

These women have largely been lumped in the “security mom” category -- married women predominantly concerned with domestic security and leaning toward Bush because they think he will be stronger on that front.

Cathy Polzin, a stay-at-home mom married to a factory worker, epitomizes that label. A registered independent, she voted for Democrat Al Gore in 2000 because, she said, she “just didn’t trust” Bush. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks changed her opinion of him and her outlook on the world.

“I just had never given homeland security any thought,” Polzin, 39, said Saturday during a Bush rally in Ashwaubenon, Wis., a suburb of Green Bay. “My eyes were opened. I saw what a big role the U.S. plays in the world and that it’s up to our president to keep us safer.”

But it would be a mistake to categorize these women as single-issue voters. Interviews with waitresses, checkout clerks and homemakers across Wisconsin reveal that this year’s political shorthand has missed much of what is on their minds.

Olson spoke for 20 minutes about her concerns this election year; not once did she use the words “terrorism,” “security” or “Iraq.” She talked about her neighbor’s job going overseas and her husband’s uncertainty about his position at a local factory. When she thought about the economy, she wanted to vote Democratic.

Voters who say the economy is their top concern have consistently favored Kerry in polls. But among voters with a mix of priorities, or those who closely link the terrorist attacks and war in Iraq to the economic downturn, he has had a tough sell.

“I don’t think the Democrats have done a very good job of capitalizing on economic uncertainties,” said Jeff Mayers, who covers politics in the Upper Midwest on his online journal WisPolitics.com.

Kerry’s pitch to working-class mothers has largely emphasized his proposal to expand healthcare coverage and a promise to increase funding for the No Child Left Behind education law. But for Olson and other women interviewed, it has been largely social issues -- abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research -- that has stopped them from voting Democratic.

“I usually go with someone who’s against abortion,” Olson said, noting that she had made an exception for President Clinton in 1996.

Bobbi Jo Abts, a homemaker from Appleton, said that as a young woman she voted Democratic because her father was a Democrat. When she had children, she became more involved with her Baptist church -- and less tied to a political party.

“I think from being a mom, having kids, living life, you realize what’s important,” Abts said.

Among working-class women who strongly identified with the Democratic Party, though, Kerry seemed to enjoy solid support.

“Democrat since the day I was born,” Karen Hyde said as she leaned on the counter at Andrea’s Restaurant in South Milwaukee. Hyde, a Catholic, said she still thought of it as the party of John F. Kennedy, whom she called “the best president we’ve ever had.”

Olson said she wasn’t sure which party shared her values anymore. In the end, she noted, she probably wouldn’t make her decision until she voted Tuesday. “It’ll just be a gut thing,” she said.

Times staff writer Ronald Brownstein contributed to this report.

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Education gap

Polls show President Bush leads among white married women, and he is particularly strong among those without a college education:

2004 Bush: College 51% Non-college 64%

Kerry: College 47% Non-college 28%

2000 Bush: College 51% Non-college 56%

Gore: College 48% Non-college 42%

Source: Los Angeles Times Polls