It's also a long way to November's election, as measured by the revelations now coming out daily about the Harris/Walz records on progressive Left sympathies and activism. If Robert Kennedy Jr. does drop out of the race and throws his support behind Trump/Vance, their campaign should put Kennedy on the stump to remind Democrats that there can be no "joy" within a 2024 Democratic Party that has embraced progressive Left nuttiness and failed policy over the sound and common sensical path the Democratic Party blazed under Kennedy's father and uncles.
Kamala Harris often mentions the middle class, never says the words "working class". Many of the 5% consider themselves to be simply middle class, I think that is who VP Harris is speaking to.
Interesting point. I've also noticed the "middle class" chatter from the DNC, compared to "college educated vs non-college educated" data that Texeira and others talk about. I wonder if "middle class" is becoming a code word to the Brahmin left to enable them to feel inclusive and caring. In reality, they are just getting high on the concept while non-college educated voters are tuning them out.
I have always resented the term “working people,” referring to those whose jobs involve a significant amount of physical activity and are often employed by others. The implication is that the “working people” are more noble and are also “oppressed” by these “others,” and demagogues (mostly Democrats) have always pushed that divisive narrative.
As a civil engineer who did my share of dirty field work, and does hands-on maintenance of my own home, I appreciate the contributions made by people who perform all sorts of work requiring various combinations of formal education, manual skills, and physical activity. None are inherently any more “noble” than others, although as a practical matter I support the principle that those with the highest incomes should primarily bear the costs of government through progressive taxation.
Covid highlighted the class divide. The working men and women were deemed essential and forced to continue stocking grocery shelves/deliver Amazon products, or they lost their jobs due to government forcing business shutdowns. The laptop class enjoyed working from home and continued to receive their high salaries. The laptop class, government workers, and billionaires make up the Democrat base.
I think "working people" includes everyone, and that's why it's used. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos both work. Working class is different, it's people without a degree. Working class on average does much worse than anyone with a BA.
Good point (re: working class). I suppose you mean 'financially' when you say does much worse? My grandson didn't not succeed in college - dropped out, joined electrician union, 4+ years of training, and now a journeyman electrician. At 27 he is on his second house, is married and has a child with a stay at home wife. I wouldn't describe him as doing 'much worse' simply because he didn't join the laptop class. I would describe him as a happy, successful, man proud of providing for his family.
There is a reason working class Americans are so pessimistic. Dems have created an economy ,where they can no longer afford their previous standard of living. American life under the Biden/Harris regime. is $1000 a month more expensive, then before B/H took over. Housing costs have soared, to say nothing, of energy and insurance.
Whatever little luxuries middle and lower earners previously enjoyed, are now out of reach. Dinner out at a fast casual restaurant, a modest family vacation, or summer camp, for the kids, at the community center, have all disappeared. Their scaled down lifestyles, are now provided, only by credit cards. The balances grow each month.
2/3rds of the nation, no longer dreams of homeownership, for their adult children, only that they can maintain a roof over their heads. Young American children, in lower and middle earning families, overwhelmingly, attend substandard schools. After Covid lockdowns, literacy, is often, the most, parents can expect.
Kamala, basking in Dem admiration, created these circumstances, along with Biden. She will continue the trek downhill. Trillions needlessly spent, creating more inflation. If 10 million migrants were good, 20 million more, will be better. A war on US produced energy . . . Every lousy idea of the past 4 years, will be repackaged and repeated.
Again, we have two tracks. One is polls which are unreliable samples of peoples' statements about their intentions to do x in the future. The other are voter registrations, which are peoples' actions today.
The voter registrations are going the exact opposite of the polls. And not in just one state, in ALL of them, including California, where Rs made significant gains recently. In PA and NC, Republicans have slashed D leads; in OH and AZ and IA, Rs have piled on their already solid leads (doubling it in AZ). In NV, shifts have actually made Clark Co. a tossup. All of this is based on STATED shifts through registration.
Ruy's warning here is that many Ds, who have NOT reregistered, have mentally and attitudinally already made that shift.
Today or tomorrow, it is likely that RFK, Jr. will drop out and endorse Trump. That not only gives Trump about a +1 in PA and other states where RFK was doing well, but will doubtless move SOME who were drawn to his anti-Big Pharma, pro-medical freedom agenda to Trump. There is a reason both Axelrod and the head of Harris's superPAC weren't excited by the polls.
Trump as President did not a GD thing for working class Americans - other than reassure them that he won't let darker skinned people take their jobs or move into their neighborhoods. Apparently that is still enough - because after all, we really don't want any Democrat trying to outdo Trump with white racism, right?
Thank you for this column. There’s a lot of good information here. Just wanted to add that I finished reading your book, “Where Have All The Democrats Gone?” yesterday.
The first time I ever voted Republican was when I voted for Trump in 2016. I’d been a lifelong Democrat until then, but was upset that when I went to Mexico to teach English, they made me jump through hoops to get a work visa.
When I complained to the supervisor, he told me that all countries have immigration laws and we have to obey them. I told him, “you gotta be kidding!” I came home and voted for Trump.
But I also liked how Trump was against trade deals that sent our jobs overseas. All that started with NAFTA and then went over the cliff with China’s admittance to the WTO. Finally. I thought, someone is standing up for those people.
Despite his flaws, I’m glad someone shined a light on this.
The mistake voters make is not paying attention to actual lawmakers and the Fed with respect to inflation The President rarely ever has much sway, yet everyone blames him or her. Harris supports massive expansions in immigration—the resurrection of the awful “Langford bill.” That bill did not just allow, but would REQUIRE thousands of illegal border crossings daily. It also would normalize the president’s abuse of power using “parole” to put a sheep’s clothing over the wolf. That egregious act by Biden redirects and redefines, illegally, what Congress has determined to be a crime. By redirecting illegal aliens to ports of entry, or worse, to the CBPOne app to ignore the existence of a border altogether allows Biden-Harris to falsely claim they are reducing border numbers. Open, obliterated borders will only get worse under Harris. NOTHING has changed.
I want to know, cultural elitism of the Democrats aside where they have gone far left, regarding the *current* policy proposals of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, what exactly makes working-class voters think Trump will be significantly better for them? And let’s also set aside the moral issue of qualification to be president.
These issues:
1) Economic policy proposals and trade
2) Border policy
3) Healthcare
4) Energy
Not meant to be snarky. I am just flummoxed as to why they think Donald Trump will be significantly better for them in terms of key/pocketbook issues.
Of course, all of these poll results cannot possibly be affected by the televised convention which is going on right now. The Democrats are putting on a hell of a show, with some great speeches and videos that position them in ways that are very different from where they have been seen in the past. Clips from that convention will be on YouTube and elsewhere for months after that. They are clearly aiming to reach the middle class and the working class, in ways that you have been asking for. Some of it is substantive. Harris is pushing the fact that she has a solid record of capturing criminals, (which she tried to run away from in 2020) and Trump is a felon, which helps to switch the label of the Law and Order party. But even the questions of style have had more impact on working class voters then policy, which is why I think your worries about Walz's leftiness are overblown. Trump goes against traditional conservative positions all the time, but he gets away with it because so many people see him as "one of us". Walz really is a genuine middle-class person. He's everything that Trump and Vance pretend to be. So I think there's a very good chance that Harris/Walz are going to get a huge post convention boost, and there won't be enough time for that boost to deflate. Of course, you're most likely response to that will be "we'll see". And I can't argue with that.
It's also a long way to November's election, as measured by the revelations now coming out daily about the Harris/Walz records on progressive Left sympathies and activism. If Robert Kennedy Jr. does drop out of the race and throws his support behind Trump/Vance, their campaign should put Kennedy on the stump to remind Democrats that there can be no "joy" within a 2024 Democratic Party that has embraced progressive Left nuttiness and failed policy over the sound and common sensical path the Democratic Party blazed under Kennedy's father and uncles.
~ very prescient! RFK jr said today he would hit the campaign trail w/Pres Trump and has hinted more notable Dems will be endorsing Trump. ~
Thanks. I did not catch that but hardly surprised.
Kamala Harris often mentions the middle class, never says the words "working class". Many of the 5% consider themselves to be simply middle class, I think that is who VP Harris is speaking to.
Interesting point. I've also noticed the "middle class" chatter from the DNC, compared to "college educated vs non-college educated" data that Texeira and others talk about. I wonder if "middle class" is becoming a code word to the Brahmin left to enable them to feel inclusive and caring. In reality, they are just getting high on the concept while non-college educated voters are tuning them out.
This. I would say the majority of the college-educated are middle class. Maybe close to upper mc, but that's with a spouse or roommate.
I have always resented the term “working people,” referring to those whose jobs involve a significant amount of physical activity and are often employed by others. The implication is that the “working people” are more noble and are also “oppressed” by these “others,” and demagogues (mostly Democrats) have always pushed that divisive narrative.
As a civil engineer who did my share of dirty field work, and does hands-on maintenance of my own home, I appreciate the contributions made by people who perform all sorts of work requiring various combinations of formal education, manual skills, and physical activity. None are inherently any more “noble” than others, although as a practical matter I support the principle that those with the highest incomes should primarily bear the costs of government through progressive taxation.
Covid highlighted the class divide. The working men and women were deemed essential and forced to continue stocking grocery shelves/deliver Amazon products, or they lost their jobs due to government forcing business shutdowns. The laptop class enjoyed working from home and continued to receive their high salaries. The laptop class, government workers, and billionaires make up the Democrat base.
I think "working people" includes everyone, and that's why it's used. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos both work. Working class is different, it's people without a degree. Working class on average does much worse than anyone with a BA.
Good point (re: working class). I suppose you mean 'financially' when you say does much worse? My grandson didn't not succeed in college - dropped out, joined electrician union, 4+ years of training, and now a journeyman electrician. At 27 he is on his second house, is married and has a child with a stay at home wife. I wouldn't describe him as doing 'much worse' simply because he didn't join the laptop class. I would describe him as a happy, successful, man proud of providing for his family.
There is a reason working class Americans are so pessimistic. Dems have created an economy ,where they can no longer afford their previous standard of living. American life under the Biden/Harris regime. is $1000 a month more expensive, then before B/H took over. Housing costs have soared, to say nothing, of energy and insurance.
Whatever little luxuries middle and lower earners previously enjoyed, are now out of reach. Dinner out at a fast casual restaurant, a modest family vacation, or summer camp, for the kids, at the community center, have all disappeared. Their scaled down lifestyles, are now provided, only by credit cards. The balances grow each month.
2/3rds of the nation, no longer dreams of homeownership, for their adult children, only that they can maintain a roof over their heads. Young American children, in lower and middle earning families, overwhelmingly, attend substandard schools. After Covid lockdowns, literacy, is often, the most, parents can expect.
Kamala, basking in Dem admiration, created these circumstances, along with Biden. She will continue the trek downhill. Trillions needlessly spent, creating more inflation. If 10 million migrants were good, 20 million more, will be better. A war on US produced energy . . . Every lousy idea of the past 4 years, will be repackaged and repeated.
Again, we have two tracks. One is polls which are unreliable samples of peoples' statements about their intentions to do x in the future. The other are voter registrations, which are peoples' actions today.
The voter registrations are going the exact opposite of the polls. And not in just one state, in ALL of them, including California, where Rs made significant gains recently. In PA and NC, Republicans have slashed D leads; in OH and AZ and IA, Rs have piled on their already solid leads (doubling it in AZ). In NV, shifts have actually made Clark Co. a tossup. All of this is based on STATED shifts through registration.
Ruy's warning here is that many Ds, who have NOT reregistered, have mentally and attitudinally already made that shift.
Today or tomorrow, it is likely that RFK, Jr. will drop out and endorse Trump. That not only gives Trump about a +1 in PA and other states where RFK was doing well, but will doubtless move SOME who were drawn to his anti-Big Pharma, pro-medical freedom agenda to Trump. There is a reason both Axelrod and the head of Harris's superPAC weren't excited by the polls.
First time in a long time that I've read an article and having nothing to add or critique. It's all of this.
An excellent case study of the coastal/urban hipster/college educated/professional/MSM echo chamber.
Trump as President did not a GD thing for working class Americans - other than reassure them that he won't let darker skinned people take their jobs or move into their neighborhoods. Apparently that is still enough - because after all, we really don't want any Democrat trying to outdo Trump with white racism, right?
I think you just illustrated Ruy's point....
Thank you for this column. There’s a lot of good information here. Just wanted to add that I finished reading your book, “Where Have All The Democrats Gone?” yesterday.
The first time I ever voted Republican was when I voted for Trump in 2016. I’d been a lifelong Democrat until then, but was upset that when I went to Mexico to teach English, they made me jump through hoops to get a work visa.
When I complained to the supervisor, he told me that all countries have immigration laws and we have to obey them. I told him, “you gotta be kidding!” I came home and voted for Trump.
But I also liked how Trump was against trade deals that sent our jobs overseas. All that started with NAFTA and then went over the cliff with China’s admittance to the WTO. Finally. I thought, someone is standing up for those people.
Despite his flaws, I’m glad someone shined a light on this.
The mistake voters make is not paying attention to actual lawmakers and the Fed with respect to inflation The President rarely ever has much sway, yet everyone blames him or her. Harris supports massive expansions in immigration—the resurrection of the awful “Langford bill.” That bill did not just allow, but would REQUIRE thousands of illegal border crossings daily. It also would normalize the president’s abuse of power using “parole” to put a sheep’s clothing over the wolf. That egregious act by Biden redirects and redefines, illegally, what Congress has determined to be a crime. By redirecting illegal aliens to ports of entry, or worse, to the CBPOne app to ignore the existence of a border altogether allows Biden-Harris to falsely claim they are reducing border numbers. Open, obliterated borders will only get worse under Harris. NOTHING has changed.
Got this nice response from WSJ's Bill McGurn in response to my post this week. McGurn is good.
I want to know, cultural elitism of the Democrats aside where they have gone far left, regarding the *current* policy proposals of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, what exactly makes working-class voters think Trump will be significantly better for them? And let’s also set aside the moral issue of qualification to be president.
These issues:
1) Economic policy proposals and trade
2) Border policy
3) Healthcare
4) Energy
Not meant to be snarky. I am just flummoxed as to why they think Donald Trump will be significantly better for them in terms of key/pocketbook issues.
Of course, all of these poll results cannot possibly be affected by the televised convention which is going on right now. The Democrats are putting on a hell of a show, with some great speeches and videos that position them in ways that are very different from where they have been seen in the past. Clips from that convention will be on YouTube and elsewhere for months after that. They are clearly aiming to reach the middle class and the working class, in ways that you have been asking for. Some of it is substantive. Harris is pushing the fact that she has a solid record of capturing criminals, (which she tried to run away from in 2020) and Trump is a felon, which helps to switch the label of the Law and Order party. But even the questions of style have had more impact on working class voters then policy, which is why I think your worries about Walz's leftiness are overblown. Trump goes against traditional conservative positions all the time, but he gets away with it because so many people see him as "one of us". Walz really is a genuine middle-class person. He's everything that Trump and Vance pretend to be. So I think there's a very good chance that Harris/Walz are going to get a huge post convention boost, and there won't be enough time for that boost to deflate. Of course, you're most likely response to that will be "we'll see". And I can't argue with that.