Do Politicians Really Care About the Working Class?
Photo via: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As economic inequality grows and many working-class people feel discontent, it’s important to ask if politicians truly care about the working class’s needs. Politicians often make grand promises during their campaigns, but what really matters is what they do once they are in office. By reviewing recent laws, policies, and their statements, we can determine whether they are genuinely helping working-class Americans or just making empty promises.
According to Investopedia, the term "working class" describes a socioeconomic group of people with jobs that are low-paying, require minimal skills, or involve physical labor. These jobs typically require less education. The working class also includes those who are unemployed or depend on social welfare programs.
Many politicians claim to relate personally to the working class. For example, during the presidential debate, Kamala Harris said, “I was raised as a middle-class kid and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America.”
However, Eric Hansen, a political scientist at Loyola University Chicago who co-authored a study with Nicholas Carnes from Duke University, notes that only about 1% of Republicans and 2% of Democrats in state legislatures come from working-class backgrounds. Fact-checkers have criticized Harris’s claims about her middle-class background, noting that she grew up in an affluent neighborhood in Montreal, Canada.
Working-class voters appear to be a significant focus in the ongoing presidential election. A 2022 Gallup poll found that 46% of American adults identified as either “working” or “lower” class. With nearly half of the American population in the working-class category, it is clear why politicians are eager to secure their votes.
Former President Donald Trump has promised to support working-class Americans through various measures, including tax cuts, deregulation, and trade policies aimed at boosting job creation and revitalizing American manufacturing. He highlights the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as a key achievement, and advocates for renegotiating trade deals like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to benefit U.S. workers. Trump also focuses on job training, vocational education, healthcare reform, and stricter immigration policies to protect American jobs.
However, one of Trump’s biggest issues with the working class seems to be labor unions. As president, he appointed anti-union members to the National Labor Relations Board, enabling employers to manipulate bargaining unit sizes to undermine union efforts. Trump changed overtime rules, affecting the eligibility of eight million workers, and did not raise the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour despite promising to do so during the 2016 election. Trump backtracked after public backlash against his suggestion to eliminate entirely. He also scrapped a regulation that prevents employers from making workers waive their right to sue as a job condition. Moreover, he cut 75,000 manufacturing jobs (including 43,000 lost before the COVID pandemic) and reduced federal workplace safety inspections to an all-time low.
One of Trump’s proposals during the Sept. 10 debate was to raise tariffs up to 20% on imports. Trump claimed this would protect working-class jobs and punish what he labels “unfair trading practices;” however, many economists caution that these tariffs could have serious repercussions, potentially driving up prices for American families, causing job losses, and triggering a global trade war.
Trump’s current running mate, JD Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis has been criticized for stereotyping Appalachian people with some going as far as accusing Vance of exploiting the community to promote his personal brand.
Vance opposed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which was set to close labor law loopholes and strengthen protections for unionizing workers. He told Politico that he does not support the bill because it would solidify current collective bargaining practices, advocating instead for sectoral bargaining. Vance also rejected the bill for political reasons, stating, “I think it’s dumb to hand over a lot of power to a union leadership that is aggressively anti-Republican.”
Vance has also co-sponsored the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act, reintroducing it this year with Sen Marco Rubio. This bill aims to weaken labor unions by allowing voluntary “employee involvement organizations” that wouldn’t fall under collective bargaining agreements and could be easily dissolved by employers.
The Democratic Party struggled to win the working-class vote. This is partly due to the “diploma divide,” as noted by Jason Willick and Doug Sosnik, who highlight how globalization and job offshoring have widened the wealth gap between college graduates and the rest of the population. In key battleground states, education levels are around the national average. This context makes student debt forgiveness both politically unwise and morally questionable. Why should struggling working-class taxpayers fund the education of those who have benefited from the information economy? Before asking taxpayers to cover college costs, there needs to be accountability for rising tuition.
President Joe Biden, often referred to as "Middle-Class Joe," has faced criticism for being a career politician with a net worth of over $9 million. However, Biden has supported policies that support the working class. The American Rescue Plan Act helped millions of families during the pandemic, while the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1 trillion bipartisan law, is projected to create hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs. Additionally, Biden highlights that the nation has added 600,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office.
Harris has promoted policies that claim to support the working class. Harris aims to provide greater tax benefits for families by offsetting the costs with increased corporate taxes. She also seeks to eliminate federal taxes on tips and plans to support small businesses by raising the startup expense deduction from $5,000 to $50,000. Harris’s vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, also bolsters her pro-working-class stance; as Governor of Minnesota, he helped pass S.F. 3035 last year, which introduced a mini–PRO Act that banned captive management meetings during union drives, mandated a minimum of six paid sick days for full-time employees, and prohibited non-compete clauses in employment contracts.
One major problem with Harris’s pro-working-class claims is her ties to Silicon Valley and the significant donations she received from corporations like Google, Apple, and Facebook. Harris raised $59 million from individual donors, with 20 percent coming from Silicon Valley elites. Silicon Valley is well known for its anti-union stance.
Given the company she keeps, Harris’s ties to Silicon Valley suggest she may be more focused on being a career politician than on uplifting the working class. Additionally, she has faced challenges as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate.
Harris is also struggling with non-college-educated voters compared to Biden and Clinton, losing by a significant 12 points, while Clinton lost by 7 and Biden by 8. The New Republic noted that no Democrat has ever won the White House without a working-class majority.
The political scene is full of promises to help the working class, but often the reality is very different. With nearly half of Americans identifying as working class, it’s crucial for politicians to focus on real policies that help these people, rather than just making empty promises. The fight for economic fairness affects millions of lives.