Please see NYTimes Opinion piece that references a Duke/Ohio State study on white working class voters
Realigning elections reflect a significant change in party platforms, ideology or a shift in demographic support for particular parties. For example, the 1932 FDR victory created the New Deal coalition that included a large part of the white working class. This group included many union members especially in Rust Belt states that are often pivotal in presidential elections. As a result of President Trump's 2016 victory white working class voters have come under increasing scrutiny. One telling statistic reflected a shift from 2010 to 2018, in which whites without a college degree grew from 50 to 59 percent of the Republican Party's voters. This group tends to be more liberal economically, so Trump's promises to protect Medicare and Social Security also reveal the sentiment that Trump was relatively moderate compared to post 1980 national Republican candidates. The article is quite deep with a nuanced look at white non-college graduates in the upper two income quintiles as especially committed to the Republican party. Finally, the article attempts to contextualize the demographic changes by explaining the realignment of white voters as part of the tectonic shift from an industrial to a knowledge based economy. In response to the economic shift, demographics that formerly fell into the New Deal Democrat coalition shifted their political focus to "2nd dimension issues of citizenship, race and social governance." Ultimately, these trends are likely problematic for the Republicans as the changes in US demographics make white voters a smaller block.
Questions:
1. The article discusses non-college grad whites that are in the upper two income quintiles (above $77,000). Why would these groups be especially attracted to the Trump and the modern Republican Party?
2. Conversely, the article identified low income white college graduates as the most loyal white constituency. Why would this group lean heavily Democratic?
3. The article cites numerous other scholarly works and breaks down racial attitudes as well as church attendance as an indicator of voting behavior. What is one fact from the article that is especially relevant?
Livvy van Hamel Platerink, Period 1
ReplyDelete1. Non-college grad whites that are in the upper two income quintiles would be attracted to Trump and the modern Republican party because they are scared of the shifting economy. Right now, the economy is going from being more industrial-based to being more knowledge-based. Most low-education, high-income come from more industrial-based jobs such as “construction, crafts, retail, and personal services” (New York Times). These people benefit from more liberal redistributionist economic policies, such as Medicare and Social Security. So, these groups were attracted by Trump’s promises to protect these programs. However, these groups were also swayed by other issues such as immigration and citizenship. Trump often cited immigrants as competition for jobs for Americans, and in 2015, he said “They’re taking our jobs. They’re taking our manufacturing jobs. They’re taking our money. They’re killing us” (https://time.com/4386240/donald-trump-immigration-arguments/). A fear of losing jobs to immigrants combined with a fear of losing jobs to better educated applicants pushed low education, high income whites towards Trump and the modern Republican Party.
2. Low-income white college graduates would probably lead heavily towards the Democratic party as they favor the economic shift from industrial-based to knowledge-based. Because of this, they would oppose the policies that high-income, low-education whites would favor. Also, having a college degree would make them more likely to support liberal ideas, because being in a university may expose students to people from different backgrounds and who have different ideas. Because of this, low-income, college-educated whites would be more tolerant and receptive to Democratic views on issues such as immigration and abortion. Additionally, the democratic party’s promises to expand domestic programs would attract whites with low incomes. This combination of interests would make low-income, highly-educated whites attracted to the Democratic party.
3. One fact from the article that is especially relevant is that racism today exists because people have a prejudice against ALL groups unlike them, and not because people have individual prejudices against different groups. A study led by political scientists at Harvard that investigated the attitudes underlying modern racism found that when people were asked questions regarding racism, but they substituted the word “Blacks” for other target groups that are not commonly associated with stereotypes, that “the results obtained using groups other than Blacks are substantively indistinguishable from those measured when Blacks are the target group” (New York Times). Because of this, the researchers concluded that people see the world in terms of people who fit their norm and all “other” people. This idea of the “other” people is especially problematic in a diverse country like the US, because we cannot expect there to truly be one norm. I thought this study was very relevant because it shows a lot about how racism functions today in society through prejudices against all groups who are not the same as what you are used to.
Inés Escobedo
ReplyDelete1. these groups would be especially attracted to Trump and the modern Republican party because of their economic views and interests. In being non-college graduates, these white people are more likely to get lower-paying industry jobs rather than jobs that a college graduate would get — and have a higher pay for — because it requires more knowledge than skill. Trump’s promise to protect liberal economic policies strongly swayed this group of people into wanting job protection, including Social Security and Medicare. These policies would greatly benefit non college grads in low paying jobs.
2. low income white college graduates would be more likely to want democratic policies for two main reasons. Due to the economy favoring education over skill in industry, college graduates would welcome this shift and want the change to happen in the economy to favor them. They would most likely not support people who were non college graduates but also high-income, because they would want to personally benefit from the economy. On the other hand, being college graduates makes them much more liberal because of the education they received and the different political views they were exposed to during their college years.
3. One especially relevant fact from the article is that many white voters who were democrats voted for Trump and supported him because of his rhetoric. Many of these people were not swayed by Romney, but the increasing economic shift and the often racist rhetoric that Trump used urged voters to reconsider and support him and his economic policies, leaving the Democratic party behind.
1. High income, low education workers generally exist in trade/industrial jobs; these are jobs that Trump promised to protect amid our economy's shift towards technology, clean energy (think of the robots and coal miners). Also, Trump appealed to these people by taking hard line stances against immigration by citing the number of jobs that immigrants occupy. Trump's plan to protect medicare, social security, etc also appeals to some of the working class' dependency on these programs.
ReplyDelete2. Democrats also plan to protect public funds and aid programs, so college graduates earning little $ would be attracted to this plan. The reason that they don't shift towards Trump is because their education allows them to get jobs in newer industries that work with tech and focus on preserving the environment & other resources (things that Trump has not focused on).
3. One of the most relevant issues presented in the article is racism, or more commonly people's bias against groups that are unlike their own or present opposing viewpoints. Very few moderate, compromising politicians exist in our society today (in proportion to hardline R & Ds), and as a result most of our country is either strictly Republican or strictly Democrat. Trump's combination of assertive language and his tendencies to belittle those who don't fit the typical "American" image appeals to many people in our country, which probably helped draw wealthy Democrat voters away from their party.
Steven Yarmolinsky
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
1. The non-college grad whites would be especially attracted to Trump due to their views on the economy. Having not gone to college, these people usually . work in jobs that are unionized and they support programs that benefit themselves. These programs include Medicare and Social Security, which Trump has promised to protect and keep in tact. The non-college graduates gravitate towards Trump as he has promised to protect their interests.
2. The low-income, white college graduates are . more likely to vote Democrat due to the issues they are concerned. College graduates are more likely to be concerned with issues such as the environment and technology, which are issues that Trump is not necessarily focusing on. Democrats, however, are more focused on public works projects, which is why college graduates gravitate towards Democrats.
3. One fact that is especially relevant is who of Trump's voters describe themselves as strongly Republican. One who is strongly Republican is to be considered in favor of no gun control, little to no immigration, and above all else, most are super religious. Although 43% of Trump's voters who attend church regularly classified as strong Republican, the the 34% who seldom go, and the 23% who never go, also believed they were strong Republicans. With these numbers, it is easy to see how the term strong Republican is very broad and often misused.
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ReplyDelete1)Non-college white graduates with high incomes are more attracted to Trump and the modern Republican party because our countries economy has shifted from an industrial based economy to a knowledge based economy. The kinds of American’s that fit this mold fear that an economy that values knowledge poses a threat to their chances of succeeding economically as well as socially, and as a result they tend to prefer economic policies that oppose redistribution measures. Lastly This group of white Americans is similarly drawn to Trump’s campaign and his opinions regarding race because of their level of education, which usually goes hand in hand with one's knowledge of other cultures and their history.
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