There was an article in the NYT a few days ago that confirmed what many people have been saying all along: that many members of the WWC are resentful of what they see as the Democrats’ excessive interest in the welfare of the poor and minorities. They support cuts in welfare spending because they don’t see anything in it for them. On the other hand, they do not support cutting programs such as Social Security and Medicare which provide benefits tied to payments made through employment.
The GOP pitch to the WWC goes something like this:
- We’ll bring your old mining/manufacturing job back by imposing tariffs and cutting environmental regulations.
- We support your conservative social values.
- We’ll protect your pocketbook from the insatiable demands of the undeserving poor.
The Democrats can respond to these arguments as follows:
- They can’t outbid the GOP when it comes to cynical nostalgia, so they just have to sit back and wait for Trump to fail on his promises to revive the economy of the last century.
- They can, and should, make a point of being more sensitive to rural, conservative culture. They cannot, however, go so far as to agree with the GOP that it is the only genuine American culture.
- They need to make a bigger effort to show support for initiatives designed for poor workers, such as an expansion of the EITC. Expanding the welfare state to include more members of the WWC is in no way inconsistent with Democratic principles.
The last point is where you find the intersection between Trump and Sanders voters. Bernie’s program went too far, and was poorly focused, but his conspicuous interest in including the WWC in the welfare state was good politics.