The Financial Times recently noted, with some surprise, that California tech workers at Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Tesla, Netflix, Uber, and Apple were considerably more likely to support Senator Bernie Sanders over any other Democratic presidential nominee despite his vows to rein in Big Tech. But the Federal Election Commission data shouldn’t come as a surprise — tech workers have shown repeatedly that they care about the same issues that workers everywhere do.

Tech workers are sometimes viewed as a different breed of workers — members of the “labor aristocracy.” Highly skilled, highly paid, and seduced by the perks and exclusivity that come along with working for a company like Google or Facebook, it is often assumed that they align with their bosses instead of ordinary people.

The reality is not so simple. Yes, it’s true that many tech workers earn far above both the 2018 median US household income of $63,179 and median personal income of $33,706 (2018). Median pay at Google (including stock compensation) was $246,884 in 2018. At Facebook it was $228,651, and at Twitter, $172,703. But median pay is significantly lower at tech companies such as Apple which employs large numbers in its retail stores, and at Amazon, which directly employs many warehouse and logistics workers. Software engineers at Apple and Amazon earn an average base salary of roughly $120,000.