Liberty Expose: A Working Welfare (Part 1)
Michael Discenza
“Make America Wealthy Again”, one of the latest slogans in President Trump’s ever expanding mission statement of restoring greatness to America. Words that promise a newfound economic prosperity for every American citizen. Underneath the golden arches of the McDonald’s Impact Summit in November of last year, Trump praised the economic revitalization efforts of his administration that have ushered in the beginnings of a “golden age” for America. But the advent of Trump’s anticipated financial Pax Americana seems to be unveiling itself on a timeline with no clear start date. Despite touting 365 wins in his first year since reelection, many Americans are questioning whether Trump’s economic policies and tariffs are actually bringing the much needed relief to wallets and bank accounts as he so proudly claims. Americans are still dealing with the economic fallout of inflation, and although inflation rates have dropped, Americans continue to view their stance in the overall U.S. economic ecosystem in a negative light.
President Trump promised to deliver a blossoming economy on his 2024 campaign trail, one that would create jobs across industry sectors, restore American manufacturing, and curb rampant inflation. Focusing his campaign platform on the reality of these economic hardships and affordability issues garnered significant support amongst lower-income voters. While the Republican Party has traditionally been considered the bastion of the middle-class, more and more working-class voters are drifting towards the red garb of the Grand Ole Party. Inspired by the campaign promises of Trump, these lower-income voters have found a new home amongst conservative politicians. But can this newfound representation last if the economic prosperity Trump claims is “just around the corner” fails to reach those who so desperately need it?
The rise of the working-class right
For decades, working-class and lower-income Americans were the bread-and-butter base of the Democratic Party, not without good reason either. The Democratic Party was the longstanding supporter of the “working man”, advocating for regulations, workplace safety, and the sanctity of labor unions. From the broad sweeping reforms of the 1930s New Deal, to the height of labor union membership in the late 1970s, it was taken as fact that blue-collar Americans should vote blue. But as the composition of the Democratic Party, in both members and donors, gradually realigned towards its modern platform of the 21st century, the party slowly lost its grip on its well-established blue-collar backbone.
The turnover of blue-collar workers from blue to red has been a crawling process, decades in the making. However, the inciting incident for this change can arguably be traced to the widespread consequences, past and present, stemming from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) implemented by President Clinton. The globalization of the American economy spurred from this trilateral agreement benefitted economic interests, just not that of the average American worker. Instead, the dividends were collected largely by corporations serving strictly corporate interests. What followed for countless blue-collar Americans was nothing less than a complete fallout. Loss of employment, declining wages, and a redistribution of wealth that trickled upwards and out of reach for workers themselves. In short, a giant sucking sound whose echoes still reverberate today.
Labor unions effectively lost what little bargaining power they still retained, viewing diminished wages as a lackluster, but necessary, alternative to having their factory livelihoods moved to Mexico and overseas. But even those who survived the initial NAFTA foreshock would be unable to escape the trade agreement’s aftershocks. The legacy of NAFTA has been timelessly criticized by labor unions, and the economic hardships the agreement created are still evident throughout small towns and big cities across the country. Textile factories that once employed generations of Americans in southern states such as North Carolina were shut down in favor of cheap labor and production costs overseas. Across the Midwest, and specifically in the Rust Belt, manufacturing centers and factories that were once the economic lifeblood for communities and workers, were abandoned as jobs were taken elsewhere, resulting in poverty for some and a lower standard of living for all involved. Except the corporations, that is.
It comes as no surprise that Trump’s denunciation of NAFTA garnered the interests of labor unions, and although the Teamsters refused to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate, their silence spoke volumes.
The Economic Reality
The crossover of working-class voters from their Democratic foundation to their recently established threshold in the Republican Party represents a new chapter in conservative politics. While the Republican Party maintains a sizable portion of voters falling in the upper-middle income brackets, 36% of lower-income voters affiliate themselves with the Republican Party. Furthermore, 50% of voters with a yearly income of less than $50,000 favored Trump over Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.
Oliver Anthony’s 2023 chart topping track Rich Men North of Richmond distills in a three minute format the harsh reality faced by lower-income citizens across the country, many of whom have become card carrying Republicans. The economic challenges these largely blue-collar workers face aren’t simply media talking points, they’re an everyday reality. Republican districts across America constituted 60% of the nation’s rising poor population from 2000 to 2014. States with the highest poverty rates, including Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, helped carry Trump back into the White House in 2024 and make up much of the geographic coalition of the current Republican voter base.
There also exists a strong Republican voter base that, while not falling below the poverty line, staggers dangerously close to it. Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) households represented 29% of nationwide households in 2023. Although no explicit data ties Americans classified as ALICE households to the Republican Party, many ALICE Americans live in rural and suburban areas of states that have consistently voted Republican. For these Americans, an unexpected medical expense or untimely vehicle issues can be the bill that finally breaks their tight budgets.
The Republican Party has found itself as the newly crowned champions of the working-class. But can Republicans continue to receive the electoral support of millions of Americans when campaign promises and talking points fail to actualize in concrete and visible economic relief?
