At the Republican debates, cameras turn on, the press shows up, the candidates appear on stage. But it’s all tangential to what’s really taking place.“You saved the automobile industry back in 2008,” he told UAW members through a bullhorn. “But now they’re doing incredibly well. … It’s about time for them to step up for us.”
The battle for autoworkers’ hearts is a microcosm of a larger struggle for working-class voters, a category typically defined by pollsters as voters without a college degree. They make up about 60% of the electorate.Working-class voters, especially union members and their families, were once the cornerstone of the Democratic Party.
In 2020, Trump won 65% of white working-class votes, but Biden improved on Clinton’s dismal performance by winning 33%, according to a study by the. That was enough to move Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania into the Democratic column. That’s why Biden so often reminds audiences that he considers himself “the most pro-union president in American history.”
Biden’s answer has been an array of economic stimulus, investments in infrastructure and clean energy, and policies to promote higher wages — a package he has dubbed “Bidenomics.”