Book Review: Democrats' drift from working class proves a high-stakes blunder
A party at crossroads as the Progressive pivot threatens core alliance and sheds voters
Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes
By: Ruy Teixeira and John B. Judis
Grade: 96
I have a tendency to think that the last book I’ve read is the best I’ve read on the topic. (Psychologists call this recency bias.) But Where Have All the Democrats Gone?The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes is certainly among a select group of political books that are at the top of the list of my recent favorites.
This timely work dissects the seismic shifts within the Democratic party, tracing its journey from the broad coalition of the New Deal era to its current iteration, wrestling with the dual forces of centrism and cultural radicalism. My mind was abuzz the entire time as I read of how the Democrats bungled the opportunity to prevent Republicans from making inroads with a group (the working class) that has been summarily ignored by the party since Obama left office.
This very opening, according to the authors, is the one that former President Trump discovered and used to win the 2016 election. Amazingly, as Hillary Clinton was calling Trump voters “the deplorables” and former President Obama was saying that Midwest voters were “bitter…[clinging] to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them,” they were assailing the very voters the former needed and the latter would see propel him to victory.
A gulf opens
The great divide that’s opened up between college-educated and non-college-educated voters over time in terms of how they experience the economic development of the country in the late 20th century is hard to miss. Working-class voters experienced deindustrialization and had a feeling that the country was moving away from them, and the Democrats weren’t really defending their way of life. The latter was promoting trade deals and deregulating finance, and basically didn’t seem to have the backs of these voters in the way they used to think the Democratic Party did.
Democrats could not afford to lose these voters, and they have, in droves, since Obama’s 2008 victory. Startlingly, as the authors write, in the 2010 midterms Democrats lost 63 seats, in large part because of white working-class voters in the Midwest leaving the party. Yet in 2012 Obama got re-elected on the backs of the same voters.
How? He ran a populist style campaign against the plutocrat Mitt Romney, they write. By focusing on job losses and how Romney could not be trusted to look out for working class voters, Obama the populist made himself palatable to these voters.
What stopped the ascendancy?
In a word: Trump.
Looking at the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections as case studies, they meticulously dissect how the electoral battles highlighted the party's growing disconnection from its traditional base. The rise of Donald Trump, with his populist appeal, is portrayed as a wake-up call, underscoring a profound shift in the political landscape. Trump's success is attributed to his ability to tap into the disillusionment of working-class voters, a segment of the electorate the Democrats had seemingly taken for granted.
Trump seized upon the wellspring of discontent and resentment among the working class. A fact we all seem to miss, say the authors, is that while racial polarization is declining, class polarization and educational polarization has continued to rise. And that’s a problem for a party like the Democrats which purports to be the party of the working class.
As Teixeira—a Liberal scholar who recently decamped to the conservative American Enterprise Institute—and Judis show, this wasn’t simply a missing of the boat; it was a wholesale disregard for a population (working class) whose numbers are too important to dismiss.
Teixeira and Judis argue that the party's pivot towards progressive social issues has inadvertently marginalized the economic concerns of its traditional working-class supporters.
A feature, not a bug: The consequences of cultural radicalism are severe
Democrats' alienation of working class voters is not simply a tactical error but a deeper misunderstanding of the electorate's needs. The party’s dominant view is now rooted in cultural radicalism, they write, with views on immigration, race, crime, and gender being far to the left of what was typical for the party. These views are anathema for any party looking to hold onto working class voters.
Why you’ll enjoy the book
Where Have All the Democrats Gone? stands out for its sobering critique of the party's strategic and ideological drift leftward. Teixeira and Judis, through their insightful analysis, make a compelling case for a recalibration of Democratic strategy, emphasizing the necessity of reengaging with economic populism to bridge the widening gap between the party and its erstwhile supporters.
Moreover, the book challenges the Democratic Party to reassess its identity and strategy in an era defined by deepening class and educational divides. The “great divide” discussed by the authors illustrates the growing disparity in fortunes and outlooks between the college-educated elite and the working class, exposing a fissure that has profound implications for the party's ability to form a cohesive and winning coalition.
The Democratic party veered off course, lost its compass, and is now headed for the rocks unless they quickly change course.
On this—and most of what the authors write—I totally agree.