Report: Economic Populism Has Broad Appeal in the Rust Belt
An exhaustive new survey from the Center for Working-Class Politics and its partners finds that strong economic populism resonates across Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and that independent candidates outperform Democrats delivering the same message.
Democratic candidates underperformed their independent counterparts, even when delivering the exact same economic populist message. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Inequality in the United States is higher now than at any point since the early twentieth century. The broad prosperity of the postwar era has been replaced by deindustrialization, mass layoffs, and the erosion of unions, turbocharged by tax breaks for the wealthy and financial deregulation.
Since the Democratic Party embraced many of the policies that caused these trends, working-class voters have increasingly bolted from the party they feel has abandoned them. This exodus has been especially damaging in Rust Belt counties in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which have weathered decades of plant closures, wage stagnation, and elite neglect.
A new study conducted by the Center for Working-Class Politics (CWCP), the Labor Institute, the Labor Education Action Research Network (LEARN), and Jacobin, in partnership with YouGov, asks whether a sharper, bread-and-butter economic populism from progressives can reconnect with disaffected Rust Belt voters. The research surveyed 3,000 voters across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
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