Let's talk about the myth of 'working class' voters for Trump

The possibility of cheaper butter comes at the cost of fascism.

Pundits say Republican Donald Trump won the presidency again because voters see him as the savior from economic woes. Saying he'll be a dictator, but only for a day; telling lies; spewing racist and sexist rhetoric; and inciting a government insurrection are awash if groceries are cheaper.

Or maybe Trump voters want an autocracy and embrace right-wing extremism.

When I hear talking heads declare that Democrat Kamala Harris lost because she didn’t connect with working class voters, I hear euphemisms. “Working class” equates white in the U.S. and ignores swaths of the electorate. We heard that argument eight years ago when Trump won; the analyses proclaimed he secured the so-called working class vote. By the way, a closer look by political scientists debunked myths about that support.

Once again, a narrow view of the working class is promulgated because it’s easier to talk about than race.

“They could say they lost the working class vote, but the numbers show different with our members,” said Erica Bland-Durosinmi, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare.

From the end of August through Election Day, SEIU Healthcare members traveled by bus to door-knock for Harris in swing state Wisconsin.

“Our values were on the line. Who are they talking about when they say working class?” she said.

Not the home care, hospital or child care workers — mostly women and women of color.

“When most people talk about who’s working class, they’re talking about people who work in construction, factories and maybe some blue-collar folks. I certainly don’t think they are thinking about the people who are some of the lowest-paid folks. If you look at the care industry in particular, those are the definition of the working class,” Bland-Durosinmi said.

Their activism goes back to fighting for a $15 minimum wage and advocating for people in a devalued care economy.

“This work is devalued because it has its roots in slavery. These jobs should be good jobs. There's nobody who’s not touched by care — whether child care, life tragedy or end-of-life care,” Bland-Durosinmi said.

Black women are often at the center.

High voter participation

In her 2023 book “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class,” scholar Blair LM Kelley writes that the Trump-caused obsession with the white working class obscured “the reality that the most active, most engaged, most informed, and most impassioned working class in America is the Black working class.”

Kelley points out that the term "working class" conjures images of ruddy white men in hard hats or white waitresses in Midwestern diners who feel disgruntled and left behind. Certainly not the SEIU care workers toiling in nursing homes and day care centers.

“Nevertheless, the Black working class — particularly working Black women — consistently has some of the highest voter participation rates,” Kelley writes. And this is despite lack of middle-class resources and being at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Jenn Jackson is a political scientist at Syracuse University and received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Theysaid whiteness functions as an asset and isn’t talked about enough as a form of capital.

“A white person who has a high school diploma will still do better than a Black person with a college degree,” Jackson said. “For a lot of people, they don’t want to talk about race. The class argument is the next best argument.”

Narrowing the definition of who comprises the working class erases other groups and centers whiteness. Couple that with racial backlash over the last four years. Of course Trump emerged the winner.

According to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of adults supported Black Lives Matter in June 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd; in April 2023, support had declined to 51%. During that time, attacks on diversity, “wokeness” and critical race theory were ratcheted up by the right, in addition to an anti-LGBTQ agenda. Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is not drenched in irony. It's a loud dog whistle.

“When poor white Americans are voting for Trump because they are talking about groceries, a lot of that is not coming from a pocketbook analysis, but a racial and class-based analysis,” Jackson said.

Trump’s economic plan is tax cuts and tariff hikes that would likely result in unemployment and higher prices. His cabinet picks signal loyalty over experience. The ultra-conservative Project 2025 plan, written by some of his allies, is a fusillade of restrictions affecting women, immigrants, Black folk and people of color.

But maybe butter will be cheaper.

Natalie Y. Moore is a senior lecturer at Northwestern University.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

Get Opinions content delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.