# Are Republicans now the party of the working class? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259 "2016-11-09T19:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kamaski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9d8465/32.png) [@Kamaski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamaski)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/1 "2016-11-09T19:28:35Z")
From what I see the guys who supported Trump are the blue collar guys like bricklayers and plumbers and truck drivers and shipyard workers. Basically the working class. The people who supported Clinton are the upper class white college educated Millennials and the Wall Street elite. Have the parties switched? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/2 "2016-11-09T19:52:29Z")
“Of the one in three Americans who earn less than $50,000 a year, a majority voted for Clinton. A majority of those who earn more backed Trump.” > **[White and wealthy voters gave victory to Donald Trump, exit polls show](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/white-voters-victory-donald-trump-exit-polls)** > > Most white voters of both sexes and almost all ages and education levels backed the Republican ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/3 "2016-11-09T20:02:06Z")
Here’s page of charts from the exit polls: [Election 2016: Exit Polls - The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/politics/election-exit-polls.html) The “income” one is pretty even with a slight trend democratic at the lower income levels. It certainly doesn’t support “the Democrats are the party of the rich”. (Whereas the charts very much do support, “the democrats are the party of the educated” and “the party of city dwellers”). ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/4 "2016-11-09T23:47:13Z")
Skipping the income levels since that can hide the effect of better paid, but still blue collar, union members. Democrats appeared to be less the party of those who live in [union households](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-did-really-well-with-union-households_us_582367d0e4b0aac62488cc32) in exit polls. That’s a big deal in the midwest and it showed. > [@](#): > > CNN’s exit polling found that 51 percent of union households went for Clinton, compared to 49 for Trump. That would be an unusually poor showing for a Democratic presidential candidate. The numbers from the Fox News and ABC exit polls weren’t as bad for Clinton. Fox News said union households broke for Clinton by an 8-point margin, and ABC gave her a 16-point margin. > > …2012 showed Obama taking union households by 18 points. That’s a big range - from stunning swing of part of the traditional Democratic base to mild under-performance. I saw state exit polls in the tidal wave of information last night where the Ohio union vote was near even and the Michigan union vote only mildly favored Clinton. With numbers like that it’s not surprising things were ugly for Clinton. It doesn’t make the Republicans the party of labor. It might show that Democrats aren’t particularly the party of labor either. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/5 "2016-11-10T00:04:39Z")
They’re perhaps the party of the white working class. But the working class is disproportionately non-white, so the Republicans lost the working class vote even while (it seems) making great gains with the white members. ---
**Author:** ![greenmario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@greenmario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenmario)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/6 "2016-11-10T00:06:44Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Here’s page of charts from the exit polls: [Election 2016: Exit Polls - The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/politics/election-exit-polls.html) > > The “income” one is pretty even with a slight trend democratic at the lower income levels. It certainly doesn’t support “the Democrats are the party of the rich”. (Whereas the charts very much do support, “the democrats are the party of the educated” and “the party of city dwellers”). I struggle to make sense of the divide between education levels. College seems to divide people more evenly, while outside of a college degree the difference between races is ENORMOUS. Assuming these people are of similar income levels what causes the divide ? Is this where each parties narrative and image come into play ? ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/7 "2016-11-10T00:33:31Z")
> [@greenmario](#): > > I struggle to make sense of the divide between education levels. College seems to divide people more evenly, while outside of a college degree the difference between races is ENORMOUS. Assuming these people are of similar income levels what causes the divide ? Is this where each parties narrative and image come into play ? A lot of the momentum behind Trump is white, working class (male) resentment of the so-called preferential treatment of “liberal elites” (the educated and/or urban) and of “spongers and leechers” (minorities). The Trumpites define themselves as white, blue-collar, and rural/suburban, and everyone who isn’t is the enemy. I’m shocked they got as much support from minorities as they did. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/8 "2016-11-10T00:39:24Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > They’re perhaps the party of the white working class. But the working class is disproportionately non-white, so the Republicans lost the working class vote even while (it seems) making great gains with the white members. This. Are telemarketers “working class,” or are we excluded because we make too little to qualify? And are way too dark, as a group? It’s that we can sit down at work, right? It was like a wake today, and not an Irish one. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/9 "2016-11-10T00:59:07Z")
It’s possible the Republicans aren’t sure what they are the party of now, especially given Trump wants to upend at least some of the party orthodoxy ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/10 "2016-11-10T01:10:55Z")
I’d say that he carved out a large chunk of the working class (principally among whites), and did what was necessary to keep the religious right on his side. Those are probably his two big voting blocks. We’ll have to see whether the party decides to follow suit and try to take in more of the worker class. They could probably win back minorities if they want to. After all, most countries from which America pulls its migrants are more conservative than the US national average and it’s not like black culture is all about equality of the sexes and support for LGBT rights. The current hold that Democrats have on the non-white working class could prove relatively fragile. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/11 "2016-11-10T01:45:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > But the working class is disproportionately non-white… I doubt this: please give statistics and references. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-republicans-now-the-party-of-the-working-class/771259/12 "2016-11-10T10:31:14Z")
You have to define working class. I define it literally, personally: people who work for a living, and don’t make a large amount of money doing it, say people in the minimum wage to $75,000 range. That might seem high, but some union blue collar guys can command that much in some places. Those who don’t work are the non-working poor, the idle class, the disabled, the unemployable, poor retirees, and have very different interests than the working class, even though Democrats have often sought to act as if they were the same people. This is what led to the split in the party, which caused the working class to move towards Reagan. So yes, the Republican Party is the party of the working class. Although except on taxes they don’t actually work for the working class, they work for their corporate paymasters. But that might change now. Or it might not. We’ll see.