Democrats Are Losing the Working Class, but You Shouldn’t Blame the Left

Democrats Are Losing the Working Class, but You Shouldn’t Blame the Left

Democrats Are Losing the Working Class, but You Shouldn’t Blame the Left

The reason people are disenchanted is that this economy doesn’t work for them.

Katrina vanden Heuvel
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

It’s no surprise that Democrats are up against it this fall. The president’s party generally does worse in midterm elections. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Crime is up. And the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda has been torpedoed by united Republican obstruction—and a West Virginia Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin III.

But a critical factor was revealed in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll: Though they enjoy a huge 20-point advantage over Republicans among white college-educated voters, the Democrats have a working-class problem.

The Democratic Party is losing support not just among white but all non-college-educated voters, trailing the GOP by 12 points. It is becoming the party of upscale urban and suburban voters, while Republicans are beginning to consolidate a multiracial coalition of working-class voters.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

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Katrina vanden Heuvel Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.


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