Democrats Need to Worry About This Trend: One of the more remarkable trends in modern politics is the uncoupling of the middle class from the Democratic Party. Through much of the 20th century, the Democratic Party was aligned with the interests of the middle class, crafting policies that made the American middle class the envy of the entire world. Middle-class voters rewarded Democrats with a string of election victories – most notably five consecutive presidential victories from 1932 to 1948.
But the Democratic Party has since become more aligned with the interests of the professional managerial class. Not the uber-wealthy, top one percent, billionaire class. But the well-to-do, Harvard-Yale, white-collar class. Say the top ten percent of income earners. The trend really gained traction during the Clinton administration.
The Clinton administration was a problem
Clinton is remembered as a victorious Democratic figure, but the truth is he sold out the middle-class. “He’s the one who rammed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through Congress and who taught the world that the way you respond to a recession is by paying off the federal deficit,” Thomas Frank wrote. “Mass incarceration and the repeal of welfare, two of Clinton’s other major achievements, are the pillars of the disciplinary state that has made life so miserable for Americans in the lower reaches of society. He would have put a huge dent in Social Security, too, had the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal not stopped him. If we take inequality as our measure, the Clinton administration looks not heroic but odious.”
The result? For decades, the middle-class has gradually been embracing the Republican Party. It’s a cruel irony. The Republican Party seems motivated to destroy the middle-class, yet attracts middle-class voters in hordes. Why? That’s a topic for another article but it has a lot to do with paying lip service to the cultural and social value of the middle-class. The point here is that Biden’s recent fund-raising report confirms the idea that middle-class voters are not pulling for mainstream Democrats.
Biden’s fund-raising report
“The president, who touts his dedication to middle-class voters, hauled in a little more than $10 million in the quarter that ended June 30 from small donations, defined as gifts of $200 or less.” Presumably, the $200 or less donations are indicative of middle-class support. And the number Biden disclosed is rather low – about half of what Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign raised – suggesting that the middle-class is not enthusiastic about a Biden reelection.
As The New York Times reported, “the president’s finance report show that he is far more dependent on the wealthiest donors than Mr. Trump was in his re-election bid or Mr. Biden’s opponents were in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary contest.”
Fox News, experts at duping the middle class, note that “Biden’s campaign (in league with the DNC) raised $72 million, most of it from millionaires and billionaires. Those folks are not, we can agree, building the economy from ‘the middle out and the bottom up.’”
The problem with the Democrats abandoning the middle-class is that there’s no one left. Democrats were supposed to be the brake against right-wing erosion of the middle-class. But now both parties are happy to align with big-money donors and big-money corporations and big-money industries. It’s so odd, because if one party were ever to craft policies that prioritized the middle-class, that party would be politically dominant.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor and opinion writer at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
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