Whites’ Unease Shadows the Politics of a More Diverse America

… Mr. Trump’s rise to the presidency prompted widespread efforts to understand the motivations of the white working-class voters who propelled him into the White House. It fueled scorching debates over the role that racism played in the presidential election. Economists proposed that workers in distress because of trade and […] Read more »

Americans give Trump credit for good economy, mixed reviews on North Korea

Nearly two in three Americans think the nation’s economy is in good shape, and most of them believe President’s Trump’s policies are at least somewhat responsible for that. More Republicans rate the economy positively than do Democrats. … Americans give Mr. Trump mixed marks on his approach to negotiations and […] Read more »

Modern-day ‘Class Consciousness’ and ‘Class Resentment’

… There is, of course, tremendous resistance among social scientists and historians to the idea that American white workers can be said to have anything like a “class consciousness” at all. While it is considered acceptable to use the term to describe, for example, the attitudes of British working class […] Read more »

White people get more conservative when they move up — not down — economically

President Trump’s election upended the conventional view of U.S. class politics. Republicans have long been considered the party of the affluent and upwardly mobile, while Democrats have appealed to the economically disadvantaged. But many observers have suggested that Trump “tapped into the anger of a declining middle class” rooted in […] Read more »