Roundup: June 11, 2025

News and Views Concerning Working-Class Politics

Nathan Sage, a former mechanic and veteran is running for US Senate in Iowa.

How to win back the working class, plutopopulism, the missing Democratic voters, and new data demonstrating the depths of class dealignment. Plus, in Iowa a working-class candidate with serious potential.

Below you’ll find a range of news and views that concern working-class politics, class dealignment, and political strategy. Many are written by research associates and friends of the Center for Working-Class Politics.

Here’s How Democrats Win Back Voters

In The Hill, Jared Abbott and Jonathan Smucker argue that Democrats need to go on offense, not just against Trump, but against the corporate takeover of American life that’s left so many working-class communities behind. Drawing on CWCP research, they outline three key steps for progressives: (1) attack billionaires, corporations, and party elites consistently and credibly; (2) put forward a bold economic agenda to improve the lives of working Americans and (3) lead with economic populism without abandoning core progressive commitments on rights and freedoms. Trump’s pseudo-populism thrives when Democrats fail to name real villains.

Plutopopulism: Wealth and Trump’s Financial Base

New research shows much of Donald Trump’s financial support has come from from less-educated, non-wealthy white Americans. Using data linking property values to political donations and voter files, the authors found that Trump received less support from traditional wealthy Republican donors but successfully activated many new, less-wealthy donors. The findings suggest a “plutopopulist” model, where Trump’s fundraising drew from both rich and non-rich supporters—a coalition not typical in American politics, but one that makes more and more sense in the age of class dealignment.

What Caused Democrats’ No-Show Problem in 2024?

Jared Abbott and Dustin Guastella from the Center for Working Class Politics dig into policy preferences of nonvoting Democrats in the 2024 election. New data from Cooperative Election Study (CES) shows that these non voters appear to have been less progressive than Democrats who voted, contrary to popular progressive opinion. What we do know about these nonvoters is that they were overwhelmingly working class and economically precarious, and much more likely to be non-white— often with socially conservative opinions. Moving left on social issues then would have been unlikely to energize this group. They needed a clear narrative on how their lives could improve economically, something Democrats weren’t willing to offer.

The Democrats’ Class Trip to Nowhere

While Center for American Progress’s “Representing Working Class Voters” forum on Wednesday at least proposed some of the economic populist policies that poll well with working class Americans, the centrist Abundance-pilled “WelcomeFest” gathering a few blocks over actively derided economic populism and even, at one point, labor unions. Democrats like Greg Casar might be offering some real solutions to class dealignment, but working inside a party apparatus actively opposed to these solutions might be too tall of a task.

The One Type of Democratic Identity Politics That Will Actually Work

“The real causes of the working class’s distress shouldn’t be all that hard for the Democrats to address.”

American Prospect editor at large, Harold Meyerson calls for the Democrats to adopt class politics over identity politics in order to avoid continuing to be seen as weak and lethargic. Meyerson mentions a study that shows swing voters associate Republicans with strong animals like lions and sharks, while they see Democrats as weak or passive, like slugs or deer-in-the-headlights. Considering Democrats’ shallow and bloodless messaging, especially on the economy, it’s hard to disagree with them.

How Donald Trump Has Remade America’s Political Landscape

2024 election analysis from the NYTimes shows class dealignment in a deafening light. While the Republican party is expanding support in tens of working-class counties, Democrats can only point to very marginal gains in the country’s wealthiest and most educated areas. While just 435 counties voted more Democratic in 2024 than did so in 2012, by an improved margin of 8.8 percentage points, 2,678 counties became more Republican, by an average of 13.3 percentage points.

This Iowan’s raw anger could make him the new anti-Trump

Former mechanic, veteran (serving with the Marines and the Army), and self-described “son of a trailer park,” Nathan Sage has launched a campaign for incumbent Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s seat in Iowa. Sage wants to “to tear the Democratic Party down and build it back up from the studs.” Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in ruby red Iowa since 2008, yet a populist like Sage might have the best chance to win.

Sanders says Harris fell short with the working class. He has a plan to fix that.

Bernie Sanders is unhappy with the Democratic party and is taking steps to support left-leaning candidates and policy positions in the midterm elections. With goals including recruiting working class candidates and elevating policies like universal healthcare, Sander’s team is already drawing criticism from establishment Democrats who are urging moderation.

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