Member-only story
Is the Republican Party now the Working-Class Party?
Conservatives claim that Donald Trump’s electoral victories show that his Republican Party, not the Democrats, now represents the working class.
Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted on election night 2020, “We are a working-class party now. That’s the future.” Although unions only represent 10% of the working-class labor force, since 1980, Democrats have not dipped below 51%. However, as the data below shows, most working-class Whites have become Republican voters.
Using Vanderbilt data, most White working-class voters voted for Republican presidential candidates in seven of the last 11 elections, from 1980 through 2020. Since Bill Clinton’s elections, only Obama’s first race has a Democrat won the majority of White working-class voters. However, Obama dramatically lost their support in his second election, with 57% of them going to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Who are the working-class folks?
Like most surveys, the 2021 report defines the working class as people without a college degree. However, it added that they also belong to the bottom half of the household income distribution. This eliminates those who don’t finish college but still go on to earn high salaries, like Bill Gates. I’ve used Vanderbilt’s definition where possible but note when data is based only on education level.
