The white working class knows the American project isn’t working. Here’s why that will never matter to them

Access to power over other racial groups is their preferred political currencyThere is no shortage of interest in the voting patterns of the white working class. Of particular note is how this group – especially since the sea change of the 1960s – finds themselves so consistently on the wrong side of progressive politics. The national preoccupation with the white working class’s affinity for rightwing conservatism has propagated countless , and that are often or or . Their almost exclusively centrist white elite authors plead for us to understand how those in the white working class feel , and that they turned hard right because to their economic anxieties. These pieces pose questions like and equate the term “working class” with whiteness, ignoring any explanation for why the Black working classes – which suffered far more economic angst and in the last decade – continue to vote solidly blue.But after three presidential elections in which non-college-educated white voters (the most functional definition we have for this group) have Donald Trump, journalists and researchers are now if these voters will go Maga again in the 2026 midterms. speculate that they : his approval ratings have recently dipped below 50% with non-college-educated whites, as their economics are no better off under Trump 2.0 – down 14 points in the last 15 months.