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player ready...It’s a presidential election year, so gentlemen (and ladies) of the political press, start your catchphrase machine!
When President Bush surfaced at the Daytona 500 last Sunday, there may well have been a–surprise!–political intent. Amid a decline in his popularity, he was going after a group now labeled “NASCAR Dads,” according to pundits. Like “Angry White Men,” “Reagan Democrats,” “Soccer Moms” and “Security Moms” before them, this is the latest designation for a supposedly important group of swing voters sought by both parties.
In this case, the phrase, actually conceived by Democrats, is said to encompass culturally conservative men who enjoy NASCAR racing and hunting. They tend to worry that the Democrats don’t speak to them on cultural issues, though they may sympathize with Democrats on economics and some social issues, including abortion. One of the first signs that a Democrat might be able to exploit this group came with the 2001 victory by cell phone entrepreneur Mark Warner in the race for Virginia governor. He financed a NASCAR entry, made sure his TV ads included pickup trucks and bluegrass music, and grabbed significant votes in conservative, rural Virginia.
So if you want to sound very politically astute during barroom chatter, throw around the term NASCAR Dad. But be wary of using it too much.
“I don’t use it,” said Merle Black, a sharp political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. “It’s too gross a term. It’s a bit too catchy. It limits those you’re talking about. There are, after all, a lot of women who follow NASCAR and who watch it on TV all over the country.
“Yes, these folks probably have a Republican tilt. But it’s not one that’s going to vote 90-10 one way. If you use the term, just put in a lot of qualifiers.”