Political Science
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The victory of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the November 2024 presidential elections in the United States rested on the support of a new electoral coalition that included a segment of the working class, which had traditionally supported the Democratic Party. This article analyzes the reasons behind the defection of the working class from the Democratic Party. It shows that this realignment has been a decades-long process resulting from the impact of structural changes in the economy on the industrial working class. These changes led the party to broaden its electoral base and attract other voters, particularly college graduates, who have pushed it to adopt policies that have alienated segments of the working class. © 2026, Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas. All rights reserved.
Publication Title
Revista Espanola de Investigaciones Sociologicas
Publication Date
10-2026
Volume
2026
Issue
196
First Page
97
Last Page
114
ISSN
0210-5233
DOI
10.5477/cis/reis.196.97-114
Keywords
Democratic Party, party realignment, US Elections, woke, working class
Repository Citation
Royo, Sebastian, "Left Behind: Why Democrats Lost the Working Class" (2026). Political Science. 132.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_political_science/132
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Copyright Conditions
Royo, S. (2026). Left Behind: Why Democrats Lost the Working Class. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS), 196(196), 97-114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10368-026-00817-5
