State Legislatures 1993-2017

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

Really? I'm pretty sure 35-40% of stay-at-home moms still vote Democratic today.  Back in the mid-20th century, when almost everyone who could afford to do that did, it's likely about half were Democrats.  There seems to be a weird conservative housewife obsession on this board.  In Texas, that demographic may be near unanimously R (even there, what about the Hispanic community?), but that's far from the case nationally.

If you're interested in the topic and you can access it, I'd highly suggest reading “Women, Domesticity, and Postwar Conservatism" by Michelle Nickerson (in the OAH Magazine of History) for an overview of the topic. Very concise and well-written, with suggestions for further reading.

That's a fascinating theory, I'm just not sure how well it works today.  Consider this data from a report in January: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/06/upshot/where-working-women-are-most-common.html?_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1#/5/35.7/-102.5

It bears little relationship to a presidential election map anywhere west of the Appalachians.  Generally, non-working women seem to be in these (not mutually exclusive) categories:

1. Mormons
2. Hispanic people
3. Resource extraction wives
4. Ivy League/Top 25 school wives

#1 and #3 are overwhelmingly Republican, #2 and #4 (as of 2004) are overwhelmingly Democratic.  Of course, #4 is at most a few 100K people in votes, but they are going to be a major force as political activists and donors.  50 years ago, #4 leaned right while #1 and #3 were much less partisan.  There were also a lot more of #3 back then than today.     

I think "Evangelicals" should be lumped in with #1; the homeschooling movement is pretty strong in a lot of the South and Midwest, and many of them are Baptist or nondenominational Christian. 

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

Really? I'm pretty sure 35-40% of stay-at-home moms still vote Democratic today.  Back in the mid-20th century, when almost everyone who could afford to do that did, it's likely about half were Democrats.  There seems to be a weird conservative housewife obsession on this board.  In Texas, that demographic may be near unanimously R (even there, what about the Hispanic community?), but that's far from the case nationally.

If you're interested in the topic and you can access it, I'd highly suggest reading “Women, Domesticity, and Postwar Conservatism" by Michelle Nickerson (in the OAH Magazine of History) for an overview of the topic. Very concise and well-written, with suggestions for further reading.

That's a fascinating theory, I'm just not sure how well it works today.  Consider this data from a report in January: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/06/upshot/where-working-women-are-most-common.html?_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1#/5/35.7/-102.5

It bears little relationship to a presidential election map anywhere west of the Appalachians.  Generally, non-working women seem to be in these (not mutually exclusive) categories:

1. Mormons
2. Hispanic people
3. Resource extraction wives
4. Ivy League/Top 25 school wives

#1 and #3 are overwhelmingly Republican, #2 and #4 (as of 2004) are overwhelmingly Democratic.  Of course, #4 is at most a few 100K people in votes, but they are going to be a major force as political activists and donors.  50 years ago, #4 leaned right while #1 and #3 were much less partisan.  There were also a lot more of #3 back then than today.     

I think "Evangelicals" should be lumped in with #1; the homeschooling movement is pretty strong in a lot of the South and Midwest, and many of them are Baptist or nondenominational Christian. 

That's true to a degree.  In my experience, the "average" Evangelical wife seems to work part time for <1/2 her husband's pay while raising 2-4 kids, with the very most conservative doing the homeschooling and the 5+ kid families (remember mainstream Evangelical churches do not oppose birth control per se).       

Edit: I should also note #3 includes farming/ranching/agribusiness in my mind.

OK, that makes more sense.  That being said, I bet most liberal, stay-at-home "Ivy league wives" do at least some paid work outside the house likewise.