Life

Here’s a Terrifying Prospect: The ‘Ivanka Voter’

Ivanka, icon of Trump’s discreet female supporters. Image by Getty Images

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy November 2, 2016

At Buzzfeed, Anne Helen Petersen reports on female Trump supporters she’s met while covering the elections. These voters are, Petersen explains, white, suburban, and wealthier than the Trump supporters usually seen in news coverage. (These women “likely shop at Whole Foods, and go to Pilates, and maybe even admire Michelle Obama.”) And their gateway drug to the Donald is guess who:

“The Ivanka Voter is not the stereotypical Trump voter. She doesn’t have a Trump sign in her yard, either because it would get egged or she doesn’t want to fight with the neighbors. She knows all about Ivanka’s clothing line and brand, and thinks she would be great in the White House, because she’s classy and sophisticated, polished and well-spoken, all the things her father is not.”

Petersen’s description of one particular such voter is mildly chilling:

“She owns a pair of Ivanka booties, and thinks Ivanka would be wonderful at any position in the cabinet, especially any of the ones that would take advantage of her phenomenal people skills.”

Why does this matter? As Petersen notes, women of the demographic in question are well-represented at the polls and are swing voters.

The takeaway? Nothing wrong with ankle boots, or conventional tastes more generally. But don’t let Ivanka Trump’s reassuring blandness seduce you into voting for her dad.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. Her book, The Perils of “Privilege”, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

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