“The class divide has become the defining characteristic of American life in the 21st century. Yet the working class is a cipher in American politics and media. Despite the fact that the largest share of Americans are working class, their voices have essentially been erased from the political sphere and public debate.” – Second Class
During RFK, Jr.’s campaign for President in 2024, he often repeated a stunning statement about the political divide in America. In the 2020 Presidential election, Biden voters represented 70 percent of the country’s wealth, while Trump voters represented a mere 30 percent. These statistics reflect a growing divide since the 2016 election where Trump’s victory reflected 36 percent of wealth, to Clinton's 64. Each set of numbers originated from the left-leaning think tank in Washington, DC, the Brookings Institute. In both election cycles, the Democrats won roughly 500 counties, although mostly densely populated cities, while the Republicans won nearly five times as many at 2500 counties, although mostly rural.
As another election approaches, the percentage of working-class Democrats is declining. In 2016, Clinton won just 30 percent, while Biden, in 2020, won back only a few percent more. Since the Democrat strategy seems to shower potential voters with more money, blue-collar workers tend to prefer a hand-up, not a handout. Spurned by the working class, Democrats, instead, turned their attention and their burgeoning budgets to another class of people, illegal immigrants. Unions are another group that has begun to sour on the Democrats, with rank-and-file members breaking from management. For the first time in two decades, the Teamsters refused to endorse the Democrat candidate for President, after an internal vote showed nearly 60 percent of members preferred Trump over Harris.
In Batya Ungar-Sargon’s 2024 book, “Second Class”, Ungar-Sargon recounts her year-long odyssey interviewing working-class citizens across America. Through lengthy vignettes, workers in various economic circumstances, discuss their lives and their prospects of attaining the American Dream. Defined by their lack of college credentials, a full two-thirds of Americans, working-class jobs represent the heart of American industry.
Working-class workers fill the space between the dependent poor and the upper class. Initially defined as workers in denim, blue-collar jobs span the divide between manual labor to skilled artisans. Yet, the class gap from the degree class is not only educational but often includes a lack of home ownership and overall job security. Although, working harder at longer hours, many are having an increasingly difficult time keeping up with financial and social obligations. To help the working class achieve the American dream, many believe that fewer immigrants, whom they compete for jobs and housing, better trade policies that put Americans first, and less government welfare, would go a long way in improving their prospects.
An increased emphasis on earning a college degree has had the effect of making more and more college-dependent jobs, even though the job might not require it. This means fewer job opportunities for blue-collar workers and a critical shortage of skilled workers. That is, those who are essential to the functioning of our economy, i.e. plumbers, mechanics, and truck drivers. Viewing blue-collar jobs as a backup solution for those who lack a degree also denigrates the work of most Americans, who work hard and are proud of their contributions to the economy. The higher levels at which governments fund colleges over trade schools also create worse outcomes for those unsuited for college.
Under the policies of globalization, manufacturing jobs began to be shipped overseas, as America switched to a more service-oriented jobs market. Automation and technological changes also decreased the demand for unskilled labor. Then by allowing mass immigration into the United States, a glut of workers chasing fewer low-wage jobs, created even worse conditions, hitting black employment disproportionately. Since migrants earn meager incomes in their home countries, even low wages here are an improvement. In addition, the current Biden administration has handed a myriad of special benefits to illegal immigrants, sending them to the front of the line with housing and education. While immigrants are 13.7 percent of the US population, they currently represent 19 percent of the workforce.
Government intervention in the housing market from zoning requirements and rent control has created a shortage of 5-6 million homes. Exclusionary zones that only allow for single-family structures, add to the lack of options for working-class citizens. Then, the use of housing vouchers in a scarce market only increases housing costs. In Argentina, new President Javier Milei transformed their housing market when he removed affordable housing laws, resulting in an explosion of new housing options.
Government benefits for the working class come with disincentives for recipients to accept more hours, better pay, or even get married and risk losing their benefits. A living wage may be a common refrain from the working class, but wages that exceed skills and production will only lead to unemployment for those with the least opportunities. Like all jobs, low-skilled laborers must increase their worth through education and training to make themselves more marketable with skills that are both specialized and transferable.
Until Trump arrived, both parties were failing this diminished group. We can no longer continue to disregard their concerns.
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