Much is being made nationally of so-called “NASCAR dads,” allegedly a flag-waving bloc of voters who drive pick-up trucks, belong to the NRA, and tend to favor football and beer. The colloquial wisdom is that NASCAR dads are concentrated in the South, and in Indianapolis. But according to some experts, there is a healthy crop of them right here in Minnesota.
“Have you been to Brainerd? Have you been to Elko?” exclaimed Bill Hillsman, a political strategist and advertising guru. Brainerd International Raceway and Elko Speedway are real racetracks, and one should not be surprised to learn that real NASCAR dads congregate there. But Minnesota’s dads are also hunters, snowmobilers, and guys with cabins. They populate key districts in the state stretching from St. Cloud down to Mankato. “Whoever gets those votes will win the election,” said Hillsman.
So how did the NASCAR dad displace the soccer mom as the punditocracy’s favorite swing voter? “They resonate with a national leader who is strong and decisive and doesn’t take guff,” explained Larry Jacobs, the director of the 2004 elections project at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute. Nationally, the dads overwhelmingly supported George W. Bush in the 2000 election. His brand of “compassionate conservatism” apparently resonated with a group of voters whose beliefs don’t neatly align with either party. On issues like gay rights, the death penalty, and military spending, the dads tend to side with Bush. But like Democrats, they fear corporate greed and job loss while they support generous funding for their kids’ schools. “‘NASCAR dads’ is a new label for a persistent swing bloc of voters,” said Jacobs.
Minnesota delivered its electoral votes to the Democratic candidate in 2000—and has a long history of doing so. But according to Hillsman, Minnesota liberalism has slowly eroded during the past several elections, culminating in 2002 with the victories of Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty. In light of this, Republicans are promising a drag race for Minnesota’s ten electoral votes. What was no-man’s land for Bush in 2000 now appears to be a key state.
It’s not so much that Minnesota NASCAR dads lean to the right. They lean whichever way they feel like leaning. In other words, they vote independently, and this has led to some surprising results in the past fifteen years. It is possible that Minnesota NASCAR dads are responsible for both Jesse Ventura and Paul Wellstone, two of our more unique politicos.
Bill Morris, a former Republican Party chair and renowned pollster, says that Ventura’s election is what makes Minnesota’s NASCAR dads so special. “Our data suggest that they are a big part of his support coalition,” he said. Like Bush, Ventura exuded the toughness, masculinity, and folksy American values that the dads find appealing. Just so, Ventura was a loud independent, which underlines the fact that NASCAR dads in Minnesota are not blindly loyal to soft-headed Republicanism the way they seem to be elsewhere.
And that’s where the Democrats come into the picture. “There is a cultural dimension to the Democratic Party that these guys find really off-putting,” said Jacobs. “The Democratic Party comes off like a bunch of sissies.” But poor grammar and bad attitude aren’t necessarily going to win their vote this time around. Since the elections of Coleman and Pawlenty, the dads have grown increasingly nervous about jobs and irritated about Iraq. Both Morris and Jacobs agree that the Dems have a fighting chance with the dads, so long as they focus on issues like economic stimulus, job security, NAFTA, and corporate corruption. “The Democrats’ economic populism is aimed at NASCAR dads,” said Jacobs. “It’s not over yet.” To see where the rubber hits the road on this issue, I called Elko and Brainerd. But officials at both tracks were busy, either opening for the new racing season, or reading The Nation. —Christy DeSmith
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