Why Many Workers Now Vote Republican
Although Republicans always pushed neoliberal policies harder than Democrats ever did, the Democrats eventually embraced the same worldview, and that shift has now come back to bite them. The problem lies not so much in economics as in a specific set of faulty assumptions about workers and labor markets.
CHICAGO – A striking feature of US politics nowadays is the flight of “workers” – meaning non-professionals, usually blue-collar or clerical – from the Democratic Party. For many decades after the New Deal, the Democrats were the party that championed unions, workplace safety, and the minimum wage, and the Republicans were the champions of business.