I hear about socor moms everyday. Is this a mythor what? (No, that was
not the question). I suppose they really exist, but I cannot imagine
they are all that numerous to be so often cited in many areas of
public debate. What are the (reliable) estimates of mom's who drive
SUVs who actually use the SUV for socor and other children-style
outdoor recreational activities?  That is, of the X number (20
million; wild guess)  of SUVs on the road, how many are owned by the
socor moms who do socor and other outdorsy stuff with kids?

---

Clarification of Question by mvillanueva-ga on 04 Dec 2002 13:14 PST

Acckk... That is soccer, not socor!

Hello mvillanueva,

About 1% of Americans are women who both own an SUV and have at least
one child under 18 who plays soccer.

The term "soccer moms" refers generally to a broader group of suburban
mothers, who are considered a swing vote.  Whether the children play
soccer seems to be relatively unimportant.  So far as I can tell, the
only poll specifically designed to measure the number of women with
children who actually play soccer was conducted in 2001.  According to
the pollster, "just five or six percent of the population ... meet the
specifications of being female, having children, and having at least
one of those children playing soccer."  (If you wish to expand the
definition of "soccer moms" to mothers who drive their children to any
outdoor activities -- a very broad category -- that would probably
include a majority of the mothers of children under 18; "the average
parent of a child under 18 says they spend 4.3 hours a week driving
those children around to organized activities."  So, rather than 5-6%,
you could be starting at a baseline of, say, 20%.)

"Gallup Poll's Frank Newport: Middle East, stem cells and soccer moms"
(August 14, 2001) [scroll to near the bottom of the article]
CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/08/14/newport/

There have been surveys each year since 1996 of the percentage of
registrations for several categories of new vehicles bought by women. 
The percentage of new SUVs registered by women has climbed from 13.5%
in 1996 to 23.9% in the first 9 months of 2001.

"The S.U.V. Finally Rules the American Road" (January 6, 2002)
R. L. Polk & Co.
http://www.polk.com/news/releases/2002_0106a.asp

There are several factors that one might wish to consider before
putting these two surveys together.  Perhaps the soccer moms (under
Gallup's definition) are better off than the average mom, and
therefore are more likely to own SUVs.  On the other hand, fewer women
may drive SUVs than the Polk statistics suggest, since many will drive
used vehicles.  But then again, perhaps most soccer moms drive new
vehicles.  (And there are other potential complicating factors, such
as whether the soccer moms actually drive their children, or live
close enough so that their children walk to and from soccer practice,
and again, whether the soccer moms might drive their children to
outdoor activities other than soccer.  Also, some soccer moms will
drive SUVs bought by their husbands.)

But it seems fair to say that, at most, about 24% of soccer moms own
SUVs.  On the one hand, 24% seems too high, because that is only the
most recent figure, and because not all car-owning soccer moms will
own new cars.  On the other hand, a higher percentage of soccer moms
might own SUVs than among women in general.

So, to combine the two surveys, 5-6% of Americans are women with at
least one child under 18 who plays soccer, and about 24% of them own
SUVs.  So, about 1% of Americans in total are in both categories.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"how many soccer moms"
survey "drive suvs"

[I tried several other searches, such as "number of soccer moms" and
'poll "own suvs"', but these weren't as successful.]

[Incidentally, a good set of pages on women and SUVs, where I found
information on the second poll, is:

"4-Wheel Drive/SUVs: For Women Only"
About.com
http://4wheeldrive.about.com/cs/forwomenonly/ ]