Meet Our Audience Segments!

Galvanize Action’s award-winning Research Team has been hard at work—they’ve completed a rigorous and deeply interesting resegmentation of our audience!

We started with raw data: a large, 100+ question survey of 1,500+ white women across the US. From there, we used machine learning to find clusters of like-minded women. You can think of that like grouping apples with apples, broccoli with broccoli, and so forth. The result is four distinct categories (segments) of women based on their opinions and psychological traits. Then we trained a model to predict which of those segments real women belong to based on patterns in voter file data, and ran that trained model on the 89 million white women in the national voter file to sort them.

 Let’s meet the new Galvanize Action audience segments!

TRADITIONALISTS

White women in the Traditionalist segment are motivated by a desire to preserve the cultural and religious norms they believe define American life. Their worldview is shaped by a strong sense of moral order and hierarchy, which extends to their views on gender roles, religion, and national identity. They are resistant to change—particularly cultural shifts they perceive as threatening their values—and are deeply skeptical of outside influence, including government and media. For this group, fairness is about following rules and rewarding those within their in-group who uphold tradition. While they see themselves as principled and protective, their views often reinforce exclusionary beliefs and policies. They are drawn to leaders who speak clearly, assert authority, and promise to protect the social fabric they value. 

PRAGMATISTS

White women in the Pragmatist segment view society through a lens of fairness, structure, and individual responsibility. While they often lean ideologically conservative on cultural issues—particularly around gender and immigration—they show moderate to favorable views that point toward progress on climate, healthcare, and gun reform. This group holds strong traditional values and expresses discomfort with rapid cultural change, especially regarding discussions of gender identity in schools. They show higher trust in government institutions than Traditionalist white women and are open to solutions when framed around order, safety, and fairness. Their views can shift when messaging increases confidence in institutional trust and positions progress as compatible with stability. 

CENTRISTS

White women in the Centrist segment are defined by their middle-of-the-road instincts—pragmatic, thoughtful, and not easily swayed by extremes. They are often torn between traditional values and a desire for a more fair and functional society. These women support common-sense reforms, especially around safety, healthcare, and economic opportunity, but feel hesitant when conversations shift to gender identity or immigration. While traits like internalized sexism and just-world beliefs may temper their support for equity, trust in institutions and belief in collective action increases their openness to prosocial change. These women often value family, faith, and fairness—and respond well when solutions are framed around protecting their communities and restoring shared trust. They are cautious, but open-minded—especially when approached with respect, clarity, and grounded appeals to shared responsibility.

EGALITARIANS

White women in the Egalitarians segment are already firmly rooted in prosocial values and consistently act on their beliefs. Their worldview is shaped by a strong understanding of structural inequality, a deep belief in collective responsibility, and high trust in institutions to help create a fairer society. They are supportive of expansive government solutions to address climate change, immigration, gun reform, and racial and gender justice. They are less likely to exhibit authoritarian or just-world beliefs and hold low levels of racism, sexism, and conspiracy thinking. 

🔗 Definitions of these psychological traits

It’s interesting to note that some averages (like self-esteem) don’t vary much by segment while others (like conspiracy thinking) vary a lot! Take a moment to observe patterns and you’ll notice that the pink Traditionalists and the blue Egalitarians tend to have the most “extreme” averages.

OUR AUDIENCE

If we remove the two groups that are already firmly entrenched in their beliefs, we’re left to focus on the folks in the middle who are most likely to be open to new ideas! That means that for many purposes, Galvanize Action’s target audience is Centrists and Pragmatists. Both groups are somewhat open to progress on issues that impact all of us and somewhat hesitant to accept cultural changes. However, they are distinct groups with different traits, different barriers, and they will benefit from different approaches as Galvanize Action continues to engage with them. 

• Somewhat support abortion rights and gun reform
• Support police budget reform but also support banning gender/sexuality education in schools
• Moderate trust in government institutions, especially when linked to local or community benefits
• Respond positively to messages that emphasize unity, safety, and practical solutions
• Cultural discomfort with identity-based change, but not closed off to prosocial ideas
• Neutral or ambivalent toward immigration and transgender people

• Supportive of gun reform and affordable healthcare when framed pragmatically
• Lean conservative on gender roles and immigration
• Moderate agreement that climate change is a threat
• More trust in government institutions than in specific administrations
• View society as mostly fair and achievement-based
• Open to pragmatic policy solutions on the economy
• They hold slight prejudice toward transgender people

Read details about a few of the states Galvanize Action prioritizes:
Michigan
Wisconsin
Pennsylvania
Ohio

Read details including detailed demographics about the four new audience segments:
Egalitarians
Centrists
Pragmatists
Traditionalists

And if you’ve made it this far, take a moment to find out which segment YOU fall into! This is a heavily-simplified 10-question quiz (remember, the real one has more than 100 questions!) to help you get a feel for our segments. This is not the real tool our researchers use, but it is fun and helps you get a sense of the types of questions we asked.