Democrats don’t get why they’ve lost most working class voters

Class-war rhetoric from Democratic candidates jams working-class voters into a prefabricated progressive agenda, an expert on rural and working-class communities argues.

By: Nicholas Jacobs, Colby College; Institute for Humane Studies, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: June 2, 2026

Words: 1,640

Last Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago

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By Nicholas Jacobs, Colby College; Institute for Humane Studies

Since 2016, when Donald Trump shattered the Democrats’ blue wall by winning working-class voters across the Midwest, a cottage industry has sprung up on the left dedicated to answering a single question: How can Democrats win back the working class?

The answers come in different forms. Sometimes it is veteran Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – barnstorming red districts, railing against oligarchy and corporate …

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