An Argument for a Singles Voting Bloc

In my book, How to be a Happy Bachelor, and the recent talks I’ve given at Profs and Pints events throughout the DMV, the following projection is mentioned: by 2030, one-fourth of Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 will have never been married.  And, of course, I am one of those twenty-five percent.  Some people cite that statistic as the downfall of society (including a supposed liberal named David Brooks) while others embrace it and laud it as an example of progress.  I’m in the latter camp.
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And as of this writing, fifty percent of Americans over the age of 18 are legally single, and half of those have no interest in dating.  Yet, in this last Presidential election, both candidates (and their respective number twos) touted their spouses in front of their audiences because despite the growth of singlehood (particularly the voluntary kind), they want to appeal to a public whose mentality is entrenched in “traditional family values.”  If I had a nickel for every time a politician pledged to help “working families” instead of “working people,” I wouldn’t need to be a working person.

As a board member of Unmarried Equality, an organization that aims to facilitate advocacy for singles under a huge array of laws that privilege the married, I’ve had discussions with a number of people who’ve talked about mobilizing singles to change laws.  Sadly, many aren’t interested in it because: 1) they don’t see it as a form of oppression; after all, we’re not subject to violence because of our status; 2) they see it as liminal.  In fact, most hope to become “un-single.”

But I do have hope.  The new 4B movement, which started in South Korea, has come to the United States in the wake of all the rhetoric around “Your Body, My Choice,” which stemmed from President-Elect Donald Trump’s recent victory and the possibility of a national abortion ban, as outlined in that massive Project 2025 document.

For the past nine years, I’ve been immersed in the Singles Studies discipline.  Additionally, through my writing, I’ve been advocating for awareness around equity issues as they relate to singles, as well as those who are childless/childfree (the difference being that childless folks want kids but don’t have them for a variety of reasons; for childfree people, it’s a choice).  There are a small number of us with this passion, but at times, it feels futile trying to get people to advocate in large numbers.  However, this election gave me hope, despite the outcome.

When JD Vance’s ridiculous comment about “childless cat ladies” hit cyberspace, to say there was a firestorm put it mildly.  A Facebook group called “Cat Ladies for Kamala Harris” popped up, and suddenly, being childfree/childless doesn’t appear to have the same stigma it used to.  I walked around Dupont Circle a few days after my “America Needs More Childfree Cat Ladies” T-shirt came in.  It got a lot of compliments, although I’m pretty sure one older gentleman bumped into me intentionally.  I bumped back because, well, I stick up for my own.

I wrote a piece about inclusion of Childfree/Childless people in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion spaces for Inside Higher Ed; it got its share of likes, but I was disheartened that supposedly enlightened academics didn’t think childfree people are oppressed, including one comment from a supposed “advocate for social justice” who commented with “This is straight up bullshit.  So fucking gross!”  Do you kiss your kids with that mouth, friend?

But enough people were able to validate this, including a couple of journalists who posed the idea of a childfree voting bloc.  Even after Vance’s comment, which we later doubled down on, Harris and Walz gave support to this population, but only in their rhetoric.  I do believe there needs to be more equity for the childfree.  But since my work focuses primarily on the single, I’m going to propose a Singles voting bloc.

First, politicians, whether they be Republican, Democrat, or Independent, have never paid attention to singles.  It’s all about the family. “Working families!”  “Let’s help families!”  My cat/son Chester and I may be a family, but these politicians are referring to the nuclear family.  And as Presidential candidates are trying to appeal to folks in Middle America, who are more likely to be married than those on the coasts, they need to speak to that seeming majority. 

But, as of 2023, there are 117.6 million single people in the United States.  And many of them yearn to be partnered and might not care about how policies discriminate against them.  But some don’t want to be partnered.  And many people might care about such inequities if they were enlightened.  On the three occasions I delivered my talk at Profs and Pints, it appeared as if a collective light bulb went over the heads of my audience members; they were eager to share their experiences at having been marginalized by such laws.  And, up to this point, singles’ rights have been a nonpartisan issue, just like with the Alliance of Childfree Voters.  But if we were to mobilize, politicians might start paying attention to our needs, no matter what shade of the political spectrum we’re on.  The first step is getting the word out. 

This article is a start.