Tag Archive for: working class

Working Class Ditching Dem Party In Droves As Some Say It’s ‘Fighting For Everyone Else’ Besides Americans

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Many working-class Americans who previously voted Democratic are expressing skepticism about the party being able to regain their vote in future elections, the New York Times (NYT) reported Tuesday.

Several working-class interviewees told the NYT that they struggled with their decisions to vote for former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The report comes as Democrats attempt to persuade voters to embrace their ideas ahead of the upcoming midterms and 2028 White House election.

“I think I’m done with the Democrats,” Desmond Smith, a black man who voted for Biden in 2020, told the NYT. Smith told the outlet that he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

When asked how the Democratic Party could win his vote back, Smith told the NYT that Democrats need to “fight for Americans instead of fighting for everybody else.”

“It seemed like they [Democrats] were more concerned with [diversity, equity and inclusion] DEI and LGBTQ issues and really just things that didn’t pertain to me or concern me at all,” Kendall Wood, a truck driver from Virginia, told the NYT. Wood told the NYT that he voted for Trump in 2024 after backing Biden in 2020.

“They weren’t concerned with, really, kitchen-table issues,” he added.

“Maybe talk about real-world problems,” Maya Garcia, a restaurant server from California, told the NYT. Garcia told the outlet she voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election but did not vote in the 2024 presidential election.

Garcia said that Democrats talk “a lot about us emotionally, but what are we going to do financially?” She added, “I understand that you want, you know, equal rights and things like that. But I feel like we need to talk more about the economics.”

Kyle Bielski, of Arizona, told the NYT that he connected with Trump’s “America First” messaging in the 2024 election cycle. Still, Bielski told the outlet that he does not feel like the president is meeting expectations on his “America First” promises.

“We’re getting into more stuff abroad and not really focusing on economics here,” he told the NYT. “It doesn’t seem like he’s holding true to anything that he’s promised.”

Meanwhile, John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster, told the NYT that Democrats “are doing nothing to move their own numbers because they don’t have an economic message.”

“They [Democrats] think that this is about Trump’s numbers getting worse,” Anzalone added. “They need to worry about their numbers.”

Some Democrats have recently called for their party to stay away from left-wing messaging and return to more center-left politics following the GOP’s victories in 2024. Additionally, various polls have shown that the Democratic Party has lost popularity with voters in 2025.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin said in February that Americans now see the GOP as the “party of the working class” while the Democratic Party is viewed as the “party of the elites.”

AUTHOR

Ireland Owens

Reporter

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Massive Telecom Merger Champions Workers In A Way Biden Admin Never Could, FCC Chair Says

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) greenlit Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications on Friday — but only after Chairman Brendan Carr insisted on a slate of labor protections he said there was “no way” the Biden administration would have pursued.

The deal requires Verizon to adopt sweeping reforms benefitting tower climbers, trench diggers and fiber splicers — a class of “unsung heroes” he said the previous FCC ignored in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I don’t envision a world in which the prior administration would have looked out for America’s tower crews and blue-collar workers in this way,” Carr told the DCNF. “It comes down to the priorities of the administration and what types of deals are struck — and we didn’t see any of these types of deals. We saw deals at the FCC, specifically designed to benefit different progressive stakeholder groups, but there was nothing along these lines happening out of the prior administration.”

Carr, who negotiated the agreement alongside the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), made labor reforms a non-negotiable prerequisite for regulatory approval. The chairman emphasized his years of experience embedding himself with telecom crews, scaling towers alongside workers to gain firsthand insight into the risks and realities they face.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with them,” Carr said. “I’ve been on top of several 2,000-foot broadcaster towers with them, on top of water towers — basically every type of pole — and it’s real work. It’s hard work. And it’s important that we make sure they’re being treated fairly.”

The agreement — outlined in Verizon’s letter to the FCC — cracks down on persistent industry pain points, limiting Verizon’s reliance on 1099 workers, creating hotlines to report illegal laborers and ending the “turf vendor” model. Under that system, local firms were routinely shut out by middlemen who parceled out contracts to low-cost subcontractors, driving down wages and weakening safety standards on site, according to a NATE press release from January. The trade organization didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Verizon will also scrap its matrix pricing structure, a flat-rate payment scheme NATE criticized for ignoring regional cost variations and the real-world complexities of certain projects.

NATE, which represents over 1,000 businesses in the telecom construction sector, lauded the agreement as a “breakthrough” in a Monday press release — specifically thanking Carr for his role.

“Chairman Carr has invested a lot of time and sweat equity visiting sites and conducting tower climbs with some of America’s best contractor firms and technicians,” CEO Todd Schlekeway said. “These tangible field experiences have provided the Chairman with a deep understanding of the prominent role that NATE members play daily conducting the tough, gritty work on the frontlines to enable connectivity.”

Smaller contractors also scored practical financial wins under the deal. Verizon agreed to accelerate audits — ending long payment reviews by capping them at six months after project completion — and committed to covering third-party compliance software fees, removing a costly headache for firms forced to buy expensive reporting tools just to collect payment. New joint working groups between Verizon and NATE will keep tabs on implementation, ensuring the changes stick.

“Most people, when they turn on their smartphone or turn on their TV — if they think about it at all — maybe they think it’s magic or pixie dust,” Carr said. “But it’s some of the best people you’ll ever meet. Just real, salt-of-the-earth American workers.”

To secure FCC approval, Verizon also agreed to scrap its company-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs “effective immediately,” according to a letter filed with the commission Friday. The telecom giant dropped its workforce diversity targets, ended bonus incentives linked to demographic quotas, and folded multiple employee resource groups into a single compliance-focused office. Verizon didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Carr described this change as a “good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and the public interest” in an X post Friday.

Hours later, the FCC announced its approval of the Verizon-Frontier merger, with Carr casting the included protections as part of the broader pro-worker posture of the Trump administration.

“Usually when you see large transactions, they have a way of taking care of Wall Street interests and Main Street can get left to the sidelines,” the chairman explained. “But one of the things President Trump has been very clear about is that his administration is looking out for the blue-collar worker. You can certainly see that in this particular FCC decision.”

AUTHOR

Thomas English

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘They’ve Been Exploited By The Democratic Party’: Trump Has Caused Seismic Shift Among Blue Collar Voters

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Former President Donald Trump has amassed more support among blue collar voters as Vice President Kamala Harris’ support with the once reliably Democratic group slips.

Trump has made strides among working class voters more than any other Republican candidate in decades, boasting a 31 point lead among trade school graduates and 17 point increase among nonwhite non-college educated voters compared to 2020, according to CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten. Among union voters, a historically blue voting demographic, Harris has managed to hold a nine point lead while her Democratic predecessors boasted a double digit advantage.

“There has always been a great deal of synergy between Trump and this demographic constituency,” Len Foxwell, a Democratic strategist based in Maryland, told the DCNF. “He has certainly made a conscious effort to target that voter base, and now, this traditionally Democratic constituency is at least keeping an open door to Donald Trump.”

Prior to the CNN poll, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate on Sept. 18. Internal polling from the Teamsters, the largest union in America, revealed that nearly 60% of the workers they represent strongly favor Trump over Harris.

“All of the nation’s working men and women know that President Trump is the candidate looking out for them, which is why nearly 6 out of every 10 Teamsters support his candidacy,” Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes told the DCNF. “He has an economic plan that will allow workers to keep more of the money they earn, increase American manufacturing, and drive down energy costs. Under dealmaker President Trump, American farmers, manufacturers, and auto workers got the best trade deals in history, and he will once again put America First when we send him back to the White House.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien was invited by to speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) back in July. In contrast, O’Brien was not extended the same offer by the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August.

“The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables,” O’Brien said in a press release. “Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business. We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

The Teamsters have endorsed every Democratic nominee for president since Bill Clinton, including President Joe Biden in 2020.

“By not endorsing Kamala Harris, they’ve given the green light to go vote for Donald Trump,” John McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster and CEO of McLaughlin & Associates, told the DCNF.

“We’re seeing a realignment between the institutional wing of the union and the rank and file membership,” Foxwell told the DCNF.

Pollsters like McLaughlin told the DCNF that this shift among working class voters is likely a result of economic hardships under the Biden-Harris administration.

“They’ve been exploited by the Democrat Party,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “For the people that are surviving paycheck to paycheck, they have no choice but to vote for Donald Trump.”

Inflation has repeatedly polled as a top issue for voters, with rates surging to decade highs under the Biden-Harris administration.

While inflationary costs burden working class Americans, the Biden-Harris administration approved several spending provisions such as the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, which have collectively contributed more than $2 trillion to the federal deficit. The American Rescue Plan, which was passed in March 2021, approved $1.9 trillion in spending, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August 2022, authorized an additional $750 billion.

In addition to economic factors, political strategists like Foxwell told the DCNF that Trump’s trade policy would “naturally appeal” to working class voters in a way that the Democratic Party hasn’t.

“We’re seeing a realignment of the two parties when it comes to trade policy,” Foxwell told the DCNF. “Trump, who leads the party that was once considered to be the party of free trade and unfettered market capitalism, has adopted positions on issues like trade tariffs that would naturally appeal to a union constituency.” (RELATED: Trump Hammered Voters’ Key Concerns In RNC Speech, Harris Hardly Mentioned Them)

“Meanwhile, ever since the days of the Clinton administration and certainly continuing through the Biden presidency, the Democrats have been leaning more toward free trade,” Foxwell told the DCNF. “So, to the extent that we have a union workforce that is concerned with unfair and unbalanced competition from export markets, Trump’s policies would have a natural appeal.”

Although the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania typically lean blue, their working class strongholds will prove increasingly consequential heading into November.

These “blue wall” states carry a lot of electoral weight, making them crucial for either candidate if they want to see an electoral victory in November.

In 2016, Trump swept all three Rust Belt states and secured his election against former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In 2020, however, Trump lost in all three states and subsequently lost his reelection against President Joe Biden.

As Foxwell said, Trump has made a “conscious effort” to appeal to key industry workers like the United Auto Workers (UAW) members who were on strike in Detroit, Michigan, in 2023. During his campaign, he attacked Biden’s Green New Deal policies and their potentially negative impact on the auto industry in order to gain their favor.

Trump has also gained ground among trade school graduates, which is a continuously growing demographic. Gen Z has become increasingly involved in trade schools, with enrollments in vocational programs increasing by 16% from 2022 to 2023 according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

“I think there’s a lot of fluidity in this campaign, despite the fact that the numbers look relatively static at the top,” Foxwell told the DCNF.

“It’s really essential,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “For Donald Trump’s Republican Party to become a majority, we’re relying on working voters across the country in Michigan and Wisconsin to add to our coalition. And he will win them over not because they make up a majority of the Republican Party, but because Donald Trump has stood up for them.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

AUTHOR

Rebeka Zeljko

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Busting Myths about Income Inequality by Chelsea German

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Politicians speak often about income inequality. But that doesn’t mean they are well-informed. Indeed, they propagate four myths about the issue.

  1. Most often, those vying for elected office describe income inequality as static — as though the people who make up each income group do not change.
    The “top 1 percent” or the “top 10 percent” of income-earners are portrayed as exclusive clubs that seldom accept new members or see old and current members leave. No fluidity, no change.
  2. Political figures also have a tendency only to blame income inequality on factors like trade, immigration, an insufficiently high minimum wage, inadequate taxes on the wealthy, or the vague concept of “greed.”
  3. They typically ignore the sizeable role of choices under an individual’s control.
  4. They downplay the role of regressive government regulations.

Reality is much more interesting than soundbites.

Americans often move between different income brackets over the course of their lives. Indeed, over 50 percent of Americans find themselves among the top 10 percent of income-earners for at least one year during their working lives, and over 11 percent of Americans will be counted among the top 1 percent of income-earners for at least one year.

Fortunately, a great deal of what explains this income mobility are choices that are largely within an individual’s control. While people tend to earn more in their “prime earning years” than in their youth or old age, other key factors that explain income differences are education level, marital status, and number of earners per household. As AEI’s Mark Perry recently wrote:

The good news is that the key demographic factors that explain differences in household income are not fixed over our lifetimes and are largely under our control (e.g. staying in school and graduating, getting and staying married, etc.), which means that individuals and households are not destined to remain in a single income quintile forever.

According to the U.S. economist Thomas Sowell, whom Perry cites, “Most working Americans, who were initially in the bottom 20 percent of income-earners, rise out of that bottom 20 percent. More of them end up in the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent.”

While people move between income groups over their lifetime, many worry that income inequality between different income groups is increasing. The growing income inequality is real, but its causes are more complex than the demagogues make them out to be.

Consider, for example, the effect of “power couples,” or people with high levels of education marrying one another and forming dual-earner households. In a free society, people can marry whoever they want, even if it does contribute to widening income disparities.

Or consider the effects of regressive government regulations on exacerbating income inequality. These include barriers to entry that protect incumbent businesses and stifle competition. To name one extreme example, Louisiana recently required a government-issued license to become a florist. Lifting more of these regressive regulations would aid income mobility and help to reduce income inequality, while also furthering economic growth.

If our elections were more about the substance of serious public policy issues, rather than demagoguery and soundbites, achieving reasonable solutions could move from the land of make-believe to our complex, dynamic reality.

This article first appeared at CapX.

Chelsea GermanChelsea German

Chelsea German works at the Cato Institute as a Researcher and Managing Editor of HumanProgress.org.