Stewart Acuff, of Jefferson County, W.Va., center, and the Rev. Dr. William Barber of the Poor Peoples Campaign, conduct a news conference outside of Hart Building on December 14 to call on Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to support the Build Back Better plan and voting rights protections. (Photo By Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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.
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina 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.