Jackie Payne on the Moderate Women Who Decide Elections

Jackie Payne on the Moderate Women Who Decide Elections

After Donald Trump won in 2016, Jackie Payne did something unusual. She got in a car and spent two years just listening to women. What she found was a huge number of moderate women — in the suburbs and small towns — that both parties keep underestimating, and keep getting wrong. Closing that gap with America’s largest single voting bloc would meaningfully expand the coalition for progress and put extremists on the ropes.

Payne is the founder and executive director of Galvanize Action, a group focused on moderate women. That makes her uniquely plugged into what these women want, and full of ideas on how to persuade them.

Sarah McCammon spoke with Payne in Seattle.

IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 — Cold open

01:02 — The shock of 2016

03:39 — Conflict, self-doubt, and standing alone

05:40 — Why white women: math and morality

10:48 — Who these women are

12:37 — The 2024 shift nobody noticed

18:09 — Broken arms and sick days