Successful Populism Requires More Than Bashing Corporations and the Rich
As Democrats continue to sift through the debris of their electoral thrashing on November 5, the primacy of economic populism has risen to the top of various explanations of what went wrong with working-class voters and what should be done to correct the situation. This is a necessary if insufficient component in rebuilding a multiracial working-class coalition in the Democratic Party.
The Liberal Patriot has long argued for a combination of economic populism and nationalism with cultural pluralism and conservatism to better align the party with existing working-class voters who have steadily migrated to the right or disengaged from politics altogether.
The cultural side of this equation is extremely easy and straightforward to deal with (even though party elites and activists refuse to do so): Stop telling working-class voters they have the wrong beliefs about immigration, climate, race, gender, democracy, and patriotism. Nothing turns away people faster than party ninnies and progressive talking heads hectoring them about their views on family, faith, and flag. Don’t hold a meeting on working-class solidarity and economic populism where half the new attendees get blocked at the door for transgressing some non-profit, activist group, or think tank litmus test on culture. If you’re not willing to welcome dissent and pluralism on cultural matters inside the Democratic Party, then find a line of work other than politics.
Turning to the economic populism side of the equation, the calculations are a bit trickier to process. For many long-standing factions within the Democratic camp, populism exclusively equals the pursuit of universal social insurance policies to help working people plus a political focus on money in politics, the negative effects of economic inequality, and the corrupt “one percent” of corporations and billionaires who run the country. Many elements of this economic populism remain potent in terms of attracting working-class support and in devising governmental policies that ensure greater fairness and equal opportunity for all people across all parts of the country. In its purest form, not polluted by cultural leftism, this was the driving ideological engine of the great populist and labor movements of the 20th century, FDR’s New Deal, and later efforts such as the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign for president.
However, like all ideological movements, contemporary left populism needs some serious remodeling if proponents in the Democratic Party want to build a politics that can win back working-class voters who have drifted over to Trump.
Looking at attitudes over time, the migration of working-class voters to the GOP coincides with shifting perspectives about capitalism, the role of government, federal spending, and regulation.
For example, in an excellent post-election study conducted by PPI and YouGov, including more than 4500 interviews in 2024 battleground states, working-class voters express the most enthusiasm for a host of proposals that go well beyond traditional left-populist ideas. Three-quarters or more working-class voters support policies like making it easier for people to start a business, creating more alternatives to college, reducing the federal budget, building more housing and other infrastructure, tackling high medical costs, reinventing government, lowering taxes, and increasing military investments. Strong support ranges from 46 to 56 percent on each of these issues.
In comparison, only 44 to 54 percent of working-class voters overall express support for more traditional left-populist ideas like breaking up big tech, increasing taxes on corporations, increasing social spending and redistribution, and pursuing more taxpayer-funded healthcare insurance. The intensity of support is also much lower for these measures, ranging from 17 to 29 percent.
Although this is just one survey, these findings are consistent with other data over the past decade showing serious declines in working-class trust in government, diminished support for new social spending, and widespread concerns about government corruption, mismanagement, and overly burdensome regulatory regimes. Add in working-class disdain for much of the green agenda (particularly EV mandates), rising support for tech-libertarian ideas around free speech and cancel culture, and a desire for more restrictive immigration policies, one can easily see the contours of a right-populist majority emerging among the working class that is more in line with Trump’s approach rather than the left-leaning version on offer from Democrats.
Given the shifting views and political allegiances among working-class voters in recent elections, economic populists within the Democratic Party should use this upcoming time in opposition to update their own ideological framework and policy approach to better align with the existing views of these Americans.
Center-left populists first need to understand and accept how beliefs about business and government have changed among many working-class voters if they want to win more of their support over the next few election cycles.
Bashing corporations and the rich can only do so much, and may not work at all depending on the specific audience. Working-class voters today are much more interested in getting ahead in life with help, not hindrance, from both the private sector and the government—with no special treatment for favored demographic groups or select businesses.
Getting this policy balance right is difficult, yet critical if the party wants to find an agenda and leadership class that is attuned to the complexity of working-class sentiments in the Trump era.
Editor’s note: The Liberal Patriot will resume publishing on Monday, December 2. Enjoy the Thanksgiving break!
Bingo.
We believe there is an additional dynamic which is at play here. The type of Democrat described here by John is not a "progressive."
Progressives simply don't like working class voters. They don't hang out around them, don't go fishing with them, don't go to the same bars. We think that the most informative piece of information about progressives' attitudes toward blue collar folks and culture is reflected in comment sections in the NYT and WaPo.
They are simply ugly attitudes. And while one could argue that these commenters are not representative of progressives as a whole, that would be more convincing if other progressives slammed these ugly attitudes whenever they reared their ugly heads. But they don't.
And working class folks know it.
These attitudes are NOT what Democrats used to feel toward blue collar workers. They were our friends, they lived in our neighborhoods, we went to the same churches, etc.
Democrats simply must boot progressives from the party. We stand no chance to improve peoples' lives until that happens.
p.s. John---have a nice Thanksgiving!
"If you’re not willing to welcome dissent and pluralism on cultural matters inside the Democratic Party, then find a line of work other than politics." -- John Halpin
Precisely. This may be the single best and most succinct diagnostic I have yet to read for where the modern Democratic Party has gone astray of its own vaunted ideals.
Rigid ideologues can have no place in a freedom loving society that demands openmess, Inquisitiveness, truthfulness, and the capacity to comprehend and change with changing realities and demands. Most of these long-held virtues are kryptonite to today's Democratic Party's tightly guarded goals.