Overview

• The Center for Working-Class Politics and Jacobin analyzed 128 questions from the ANES, GSS, and CES surveys covering 1960 to 2022 to map evolving class-based opinion on social and economic policies.
• Working-class Americans back bold economic measures such as minimum wage hikes and job protections and support expanding Social Security and Medicare, though they are cautious about policies explicitly tied to higher taxes.
• Working-class attitudes on civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and immigration have shifted left over the last two decades, even as wealthier voters move faster on these issues.
• Over 10 percent of 2020 Trump voters belong to an economically progressive, culturally moderate working-class bloc that may tip close elections with tailored outreach.
• The report arrives as the Democratic Party weighs centrist versus populist strategies to rebuild working-class support after the 2024 election loss.