… In countless collisions of color and creed, Donald J. Trump’s name evokes an easily understood message of racial hostility. Defying modern conventions of political civility and language, Mr. Trump has breached the boundaries that have long constrained Americans’ public discussion of race. … In a country where the wealthiest […] Read more »
How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump
… Trump’s white working class supporters — who provide somewhere between 58 and 62 percent of his votes, according to data from NBC and ABC polls — have suffered a stunning loss of relative status over the past 40 years. Their wages have stagnated or declined; the ascendance of minorities […] Read more »
Culture Is Replacing Class as the Key Political Divide
When United Kingdom voters last week narrowly approved a referendum to leave the European Union, they underscored again how an era of unrelenting economic and demographic change is shifting the axis of politics across much of the industrialized world from class to culture. … Both geographically and demographically, the British […] Read more »
How Trump’s Campaign Could Redraw Voter Allegiances
For decades, Republicans argued for lower taxes, fewer regulations and a smaller welfare state. Democrats took up the opposite view, and voters split along familiar lines. Whatever you think of Donald Trump, it is clear that this election has the potential to reshape the allegiances of many white working-class voters […] Read more »
Right-Wing Populism Is Prevailing in Left-Wing Strongholds Around the World
Across the postindustrial world, the populist right is excelling in the old bastions of the left. If there is a lesson for the United States in the decision by British voters to exit the European Union, it is the importance of the emerging split between the beneficiaries of multicultural globalism […] Read more »
On immigration, the white working class is fearful
Although a few political analysts have been focusing on the white working class for years, it is only in response to the rise of Donald Trump that this large group of Americans has begun to receive the attention it deserves. Now, thanks to a comprehensive survey that the Public Religion […] Read more »