So far, the response from readers to this column has been "This is ridiculous, every single woman I know will be up in arms!"
First of all, that's probably not true--and second of all, it's a big country, & your circle of young, educated professionals aren't the majority.
First of all, that's probably not true--and second of all, it's a big country, & your circle of young, educated professionals aren't the majority.
https://twitter.com/PostOpinions/status/1466778480100716551
This is a symptom of a broader problem with how American elites approach diversity. We emphasize certain kinds of demographic diversity a lot--which, yay!--but forget that highly educated professionals are unrepresentative of basically any demographic group they belong to.
Their interests, tastes, needs, and outlook all diverge significantly from the average member of their demographic group. And like all of us, they often tend to be blind to the fact that the things that matter most to them are not necessarily what others most care about.
Certainly many of my readers are surrounded by progressive women who are absolutely passionate about preserving abortion rights. But almost all my readers are college educated and highly politically engaged, which makes them very unlike the average voter.
To quote Democratic Pollster Brian Stryker "The No. 1 issue for women right now is the economy, and the No. 1 issue for Black voters is the economy, and the No. 1 issue for Latino voters is the economy." Maybe abortion should be their number one, but it isn't.
The fact that you know a lot of people who care more about abortion rights than anything else is interesting, but it does not tell you how the general public will vote.
This problem distorts the way we cover issues, and the way we frame solutions to problems. The fact that you, educated professional, are EXTREMELY worried about timing pregnancies in order to protect your career, does not mean that this is a #1, or even #10, issue for most women.
I'm not saying your concerns are invalid! I'm just saying that you should not assume that most women think about abortion the way you do, much less that they will vote accordingly.
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