America's largely white, rural heartland has consistently voted Republican in recent elections. Reuters
America's largely white, rural heartland has consistently voted Republican in recent elections. Reuters
America's largely white, rural heartland has consistently voted Republican in recent elections. Reuters
America's largely white, rural heartland has consistently voted Republican in recent elections. Reuters


Democrats have lost the white working class – will they ever get it back?


  • English
  • Arabic

October 03, 2022

While political pundits in the US will be focused on which party retains control of the country's Senate and Congress, there is a deeper issue at stake in the upcoming legislative election – the polarisation that has made America's politics dysfunctional. Because Democrats and Republicans speak only to their “base voters”, the divisions only become deeper with each election. For Democrats, the problem is that they have not only lost the support of many white voters, but show little interest in making the changes that will win them back.

When trying to understand how Democrats lost white working class voters, four stories come to mind:

In 1984, both President Ronald Reagan, who was running for re-election, and his challenger, former vice president Walter Mondale, appeared before the National Italian American Foundation dinner. Mondale was accompanied by his running mate, congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, an Italian American. Mondale’s speech was a string of “I’m for this or that”, and was met with an unenthusiastic response. In fact, his only applause lines occurred when he mentioned his running mate's name.

Reagan began his remarks with: “My grandmother, like yours, came to this country with nothing but her hopes and dreams for a better life and the determination to work hard to improve her lot in life. I stand before the inheritor of her dreams and the beneficiary of her hard work.”

When he finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, because the Hollywood actor had let them know that he understood their story. I left upset, because Reagan gave the speech that Democrats had always given in the past, and Mondale demonstrated that he, like too many other Democrats, had forgotten how to connect with the very voters that once had been the backbone of their party.

During the Bill Clinton administration, I was invited to a chat with the president. I began by telling him about my old neighbourhood in upstate New York. It was largely Italian American and immigrant, with three generations living in two-family, post-war duplexes. Most had good union jobs in the cotton mills a few blocks away. When the mills closed and moved their operations overseas, thousands lost their livelihood and were forced to move looking for alternative employment.

Extended family ties severed as older folks were left behind. And nuclear families were also threatened by looming economic disaster. Homes were abandoned and left to disrepair as the city’s population dropped from 100,000, to 58,000. When I asked Mr Clinton what could be done about this, his immediate response was: “We're never getting those jobs back. Instead we have to invest in continuing education and retraining in high-tech jobs.”

The Clinton administration in the 1990s emphasised transitioning to high-tech jobs. Bloomberg
The Clinton administration in the 1990s emphasised transitioning to high-tech jobs. Bloomberg
I left upset, because Reagan gave the speech that Democrats had always given in the past

I was startled since it was clear that he had never met my 50- or 60-year-old neighbours, and his flippant answer showed no understanding of or compassion for their plight and needs.

During the 2008 elections, I had a TV series, in which I interviewed a prominent Republican conservative activist. He was making the traditional Republican arguments about lower taxes, cutting government, and deregulation. I asked him, “If that’s the case, why do your candidates spend so much time railing against abortion, immigration, and racial justice?”

He responded, “Those are shiny objects we dangle in front of angry voters to win their support, so we can win elections in order to pursue our economic policies.”

Then in 2014, after Democrats had suffered terrible losses nationwide, I was at a meeting of the party leadership where the party’s pollster made a presentation of the results. He noted that the election wasn’t as bad as some thought because Democrats had won handsome majorities of its base vote – which he spelt out to mean young people, educated women, and black, Latino and Asian voters. The problem was that despite winning these groups, Democrats didn’t win enough of them and so needed to spend more to turn out more of these voters. Since I chaired the party’s council that represents voters of European and Mediterranean ethnic immigrant descent, I pointed out that by ignoring them, we had lost legislative elections in Midwestern states and that the impact of those losses would be devastating to all voters in those states. I asked that in addition to focusing on “our base”, the party direct more resources toward winning their votes as well.

His response was: “We can’t waste money on groups that aren’t ever going to vote for us.”

The point is that Democrats lost touch with white ethnic voters and, like the Republicans, were pursuing their own version of “either-or” politics. They spoke to liberal “elites” and their “base”, but ignored or insulted others. As a result they left the field wide open for Republicans to prey off the fears of the white working class to win their support. They were losing jobs, seeing the values they had been taught to be believe now called into question, feeling the “American Dream” that had inspired them was now beyond reach and that Democrats weren’t paying attention to them.

The issue wasn’t race, per se. Rather it was the feeling of having been abandoned and vulnerable that had enabled Republicans to exploit race, immigration, or cultural change as reminders of their fear of being ignored by Democrats and left behind. A recent University of Maryland poll found that “white Americans see an increase in discrimination against other white people and less against other racial groups”. More than just a lack of empathy, poorer white Americans feel a sense of abandonment.

This November, Democrats have a chance to turn this around. In Pennsylvania and Ohio they have nominated candidates, John Fetterman and Tim Ryan, who speak to the frustrations and aspirations of white working class voters. Although their policies differ (Fetterman is somewhat more politically progressive than Ryan), both address themselves to the needs of those who’ve lost jobs and are struggling with a changing economy. They haven’t abandoned critical issues like women's rights and racial equity, but present them in the context of policies that are good for everyone. That is the way forward for Democrats both to defeat Trumpism and become a party that can govern in the best interests of all Americans.

Company Profile:

Name: The Protein Bakeshop

Date of start: 2013

Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani

Based: Dubai

Size, number of employees: 12

Funding/investors:  $400,000 (2018) 

Most%20polluted%20cities%20in%20the%20Middle%20East
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MOST%20POLLUTED%20COUNTRIES%20IN%20THE%20WORLD
%3Cp%3E1.%20Chad%3Cbr%3E2.%20Iraq%3Cbr%3E3.%20Pakistan%3Cbr%3E4.%20Bahrain%3Cbr%3E5.%20Bangladesh%3Cbr%3E6.%20Burkina%20Faso%3Cbr%3E7.%20Kuwait%3Cbr%3E8.%20India%3Cbr%3E9.%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E10.%20Tajikistan%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%202022%20World%20Air%20Quality%20Report%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

Euro 2020 qualifier

Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE

TV: Match on BeIN Sports

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Apple%20M3%2C%208-core%20CPU%2C%20up%20to%2010-core%20CPU%2C%2016-core%20Neural%20Engine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDisplay%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2013.6-inch%20Liquid%20Retina%2C%202560%20x%201664%2C%20224ppi%2C%20500%20nits%2C%20True%20Tone%2C%20wide%20colour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%2F16%2F24GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStorage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201%2F2TB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Thunderbolt%203%2FUSB-4%20(2)%2C%203.5mm%20audio%2C%20Touch%20ID%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Wi-Fi%206E%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2052.6Wh%20lithium-polymer%2C%20up%20to%2018%20hours%2C%20MagSafe%20charging%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECamera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201080p%20FaceTime%20HD%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Support%20for%20Apple%20ProRes%2C%20HDR%20with%20Dolby%20Vision%2C%20HDR10%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAudio%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204-speaker%20system%2C%20wide%20stereo%2C%20support%20for%20Dolby%20Atmos%2C%20Spatial%20Audio%20and%20dynamic%20head%20tracking%20(with%20AirPods)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Midnight%2C%20silver%2C%20space%20grey%2C%20starlight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20MacBook%20Air%2C%2030W%2F35W%20dual-port%2F70w%20power%20adapter%2C%20USB-C-to-MagSafe%20cable%2C%202%20Apple%20stickers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh4%2C599%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Saturday's schedule at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

GP3 race, 12:30pm

Formula 1 final practice, 2pm

Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm

Formula 2 race, 6:40pm

Performance: Sam Smith

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

THE SPECS

BMW X7 xDrive 50i

Engine: 4.4-litre V8

Transmission: Eight-speed Steptronic transmission

Power: 462hp

Torque: 650Nm

Price: Dh600,000

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

Desert Warrior

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Rating: 3/5

Alita: Battle Angel

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Keean Johnson

Four stars

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If you go...

Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Envi%20Lodges%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Noelle%20Homsy%20and%20Chris%20Nader%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hospitality%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%20to%2015%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStage%20of%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

If you go

The flights

Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.

The hotels

Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes. 

The specs

Engine: 5.2-litre V10

Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm

Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: From Dh1 million

On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022 

Silent Hill f

Publisher: Konami

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Rating: 4.5/5

Usain Bolt's time for the 100m at major championships

2008 Beijing Olympics 9.69 seconds

2009 Berlin World Championships 9.58

2011 Daegu World Championships Disqualified

2012 London Olympics 9.63

2013 Moscow World Championships 9.77

2015 Beijing World Championships 9.79

2016 Rio Olympics 9.81

2017 London World Championships 9.95

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars

Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.

Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.

After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.

Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.

It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.

 

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

THE BIO

Mr Al Qassimi is 37 and lives in Dubai
He is a keen drummer and loves gardening
His favourite way to unwind is spending time with his two children and cooking

Updated: October 03, 2022, 9:00 AM