The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means.

[brooklynite]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — The exit of Donald Trump has brought back a more normal rhythm to politics in Washington, but outside the Beltway, deeper forces are reshaping partisan landscape.

Data from the NBC News poll shows that the composition of the two major parties is changing, and one massive shift is coming in employment: the kinds of jobs Democrats and Republicans hold. There are signs across racial and ethnic demographic groups that Republicans are becoming the party of blue-collar Americans and the change is happening quickly.

If the movement continues it could have a very large impact on the future of the GOP. Consider the scale of the change overall.

In the last decade, the percentage of blue-collar voters who call themselves Republicans has grown by 12 points. At the same time, the number in that group identifying as Democrats has declined by 8 points. Among white-collar voters, the numbers have remained stable, with Democrats seeing a tiny increase and Republicans seeing a tiny drop.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/gop-rapidly-becoming-blue-collar-party-here-s-what-means-n1258468

[vlyons]

1. Maybe blue collar workers, who resent equal opportunity employment.

Blue collar workers, who want to exclude non-whites, Hispanics, women, LGBT from getting their jobs. Hard hats for Trump.

[TomCADem]

19. As Southerner Lyndon Johnson explained...

In the end, racism does not just oppress the people being discriminated against, but is also used to keep working class whites in line as well by focusing their attention on racial scapegoats.

[ananda]

25. Great post, TomCADem

Exactly.

I would just add the education factor, or lack thereof
among these workers.

No critical thinking skills; willingness to believe all sorts
of nonsense; and living hand to mouth will less sense
than God gave lettuce.

[elleng]

28. No doubt.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I think it's temporary.

Will blue collar voters change their affiliation if/when there are more jobs created, jobs that are union-centered, jobs with good pay and benefits?

[LiberalArkie]

5. Well, I had a young friend who managed to get an IBEW job as an apprentice. He was pretty damn

liberal. He was way to the left of me. After 2 years of working for an electrical company, I am surprised he did not attend th Jan 6 convention in DC. I haven't talked with him in over a year, but last time I did he had moved a long way to the right of Cruz where he used to be a big Hillary supporter.

Maybe the unions are different up north.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

RWNJs must be infiltrating southern unions like the Military and police departments.

[Dustlawyer]

35. The union members here vote Republican because of guns mainly.

They do not understand the value of the unions. Union leadership is now mainly older men who lost touch with their membership long ago. The propaganda has killed unions as much as Republican politicians have.

[mdbl]

41. guns and racism

[Thekaspervote]

3. Just to put some perspective on this

party affiliation overall shifted towards democrats



Posted by DU’er victor_c3

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215140011

Chart overall shows a big swing towards Dems..is not favorable to the qgop

[atreides1]

4. Question

How many of those blue-collar workers, march under Nazi or Confederate flags? How many of them believe that people of color should have no rights, except those given by white people...how many think it's great to deny women the right to choose?

Being blue-collar is no longer a tag that has any significant meaning, anymore...especially if you're a racist, bigot, or misogynist!


But that's just my opinion!!!

[Livluvgrow]

6. Look at the industries they represent

Fossil Fuels
Big agriculture
Transportation (trucking)
Mining
Logging

Most of these folks aren't entering our tent. Look at a map of pipelines throughout the US and compare it to an electoral map.

[Yavin4]

7. I would be wary of polls where people can self identify as "blue collar". n/t

[Bettie]

34. WHITE Blue Collar workers (Mostly male)

Feel "demeaned" by Democrats.

I think it is because Republicans tell them that their voices are the only ones that matter.

Democrats tell them that every voice matters, not just theirs.

[BaronChocula]

37. Yes and Thank You!!!

I don't know how we are still at the point in where if you don't mention race in a demographic category ("blue collar workers&quot , it's intended to mean "white" the same way "American" has been intended to mean "white" since the 18th century or before. It is rooted in the fact that Whites have historically considered themselves as the default Americans while everyone else was to be identified by race, ethnicity, or religion. That and the fact that white people don't take too well to being broken down into a racial category which they think demeans what they believe to be their status as default Americans. Shame on NBC news!

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Computers and their functions are entering many blue collar occupations

Computer operators in manufacturing, even the controls on many traditional big rig power equipment, higher tech materials in plumbing. Seems like everyone is due for skills upgrade. Will they remain an angry mess? Everyone still needs their work and output. Unions and government policies that protect workers' interests are the way to go in my view. Like, even though they work with their bodies and hands, they still need to understand personal finance and retirement planning. Government could enact policies that enable them to obtain those skills, and provide a level financial playing field for all workers' finances. Financial regulations should help workers, not hinder their choices, and Wall Street and financial industry should not be able to exploit them.

[mdbl]

42. I work in an industry that was ripe with benefits for the blue collar worker

the idiots all vote repuglican. Even when the repuglicans do away with all their pay and benefits, they still vote for the biggest repuglican asshole they can find.

[blueinredohio]

11. IMO, its blue collar workers who

live in a red area.. They would vote republican anyway.

[cilla4progress]

12. Sadly the history of unions in terms of race

is not all rosy.

[dubyadiprecession]

13. The nasty thing about these polls or surveys is...

That they continually fail to be accurate.

Case in point: The Presidential polls averaged Biden with a 10 point lead before Election Day.
Biden won by nearly 3 points, when the election was finally tallied.
So what does that tell you?

[modrepub]

22. The Blue Collar Tilt Explains Why The Presidential Elections In

PA and WI were so close last couple of times. Manufacturing jobs are not a growing sector in the economy in states like PA. Most of the job growth is in the health care sector, information/technology and financial sector in this state. That said, most Pennsylvanians will identify with blue collar folks even when they are not. The state's history is in the steel and coal mining sectors (Pittsburgh Steelers) and paper mills even though those industries have long been in decline.

"America First" for those inclined to identify as "blue collar" is a winning sound bite. That ignores the reality that jobs in PA have shifted to more white collar types that require some education level higher than high school. This shift is another reason why OH has become firmly Republican territory over the last decade.

If the Democratic party can't shake this image that they've abandoned the folks who work with their hands (not their heads) then the Republican party will remain viable through the Electoral College system and state-wide gerrymandering (and the courts when they are packed). This is one reason the Republicans are so against public financing of higher education (they're training folks to hate them) and why "free trade" is becoming a dirty word in their circles (when it's actually beneficial to society overall).

[paleotn]

29. And that's why they have margins of error?

And pollsters are the first to admit they're wrong. The hope is to be within the margin of error.

[Cosmocat]

14. An ever increasing calcification of "culture" as the primary drive of political ideology

nm

[world wide wally]

16. Archie Bunker Syndrome

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. Reverse this trend by passing the Green Jobs Bill- put millions of uneducated in good paying jobs

[Hortensis]

24. Yes! We will AGAIN pass the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act,

a whole package of bills which the 116th congress passed in the house with bipartisan support but was stopped in McConnell's senate. This congress will have to pass a new version, which will go to a very different senate for reconciliation with senate Democrats' version, and then to a president who won't veto it.

More people already work in sustainable energy jobs than in fossil fuel jobs, and that's going to accelerate big time. But over time.

Although it's intended to create a lot of new jobs and help enable training of people to fill them, the main focus is on creating and implementing new technology to address and eventually reverse the climate disasters. I'm guessing the transition will have to progress far more to create millions of jobs, but these new ones will tend to be skilled jobs requiring technical abilities and training. So a good step out of many we will take (if we remain in power long enough) to reverse the growth of poverty and return to liberal policies that grow the middle classes instead.

And, as said, with that lower-level technical-collar workers, whatever they're called, will hopefully once again vote to protect good jobs they helped themselves achieve by training for them.

[KPN]

40. THIS. Reverse this trend by getting results that make a real difference for the better in the

average workers lives. That's in large part what the overall Democratic Party platform is about. All we need to do is to hold together and follow through on what we've promised.

[olddad65]

18. How about the GOP being the party of the selfish?

[DallasNE]

20. Non-College Educated White Males

Currently vote 70% Republican. That reflects the effectiveness of hate as a winning strategy. One reason the percentage voting Republican continues to grow is that those over 75 have a higher percentage of non-college people that are less Republican than younger non-college educated people and they are now dying off. And increasingly votes by this group are being cast on social rather than economic reasons - another measurement on the effectiveness of hate as an election issue. January 6th was headlined by openly racist groups.

[Claire Oh Nette]

33. Education trends

Sadly, when women began to outnumber men in college and in gaining Bachelors degrees, the trickle down effect in the middle and high schools was that book smarts was some how effeminate. Being too smart as a lil dude tagged you as 'gay.'

The numbers have shifted further as more women earn degrees and catch up.

I'll see if I can find a link. I remember reading this in education circles in the early Aughts.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/11/gender-education-gap/546677/]

[appalachiablue]

21. 'I want bartenders, don't send me anymore lawyers'- Steve Bannon

[speak easy]

39. If you say so ;)

[vercetti2021]

23. Time and technology are not blue collar friendly

Blue collared jobs are not the way of the future anymore.

[Midnight Writer]

26. The weirdest thing I ever saw was members of my local turning from Democrat to Republican.

Noticed the shift begin during Reagan years, then accelerated due to Rush Limbaugh.

Guys started listening to Rush Limbaugh on their radios, and pretty soon every conversation you had with these people got around to "Rush says..."

[Peacetrain]

27. Since most workers would be classified other than blue collar.. whose numbers I last saw was 14%

my inclination would be .. so what.. what is true for everyone else is true for them also.. if they do not want the benefits that come from being part of the Democratic party or other parties that are not conservative.. then pfffttttttt.. they are on a down scale slope

[Claire Oh Nette]

30. Blue Collar Trades

The trades are not a monolith of white folks. So, who are these voters, really? high school educated white men.

It's increasingly a college/not college divide. Right along with Rural/Developed. The big industries are intriguing, but these guys are in the construction trades, too.

Union jobs with good union benefits would change a lot of guys minds.

[Turbineguy]

31. It was the class that supported Hitler.

[paleotn]

32. Attracting the very people they're screwing. Interesting.

Must be the hate.

[Justice matters.]

43. The hate is in the fox knee_use every day

and ins-h-anity in Prime Time too.

[James48]

36. This whole thread disturbs me

Blue Collar voters are generally a part of the big tent if democrats. This thread has multiple posts that degrade part of the big tent.

Come on folks- we can do better. Let’s work to get more blue collar folks into the party.

[CaptainTruth]

38. Another test of the Democratic Messaging System

We're the pro-worker party, pro-union, pro-workers rights, pro-living wage. Democrats will do far more for blue collar workers than Republicans ever will.

But, do they know that? And even if they've heard it, do they understand it & believe it?

Whose responsibility is it to tell them? Whose responsibility is it to convince them? Whose responsibility is it to counter right-wing messages that turn them against Democrats & cause them to vote against their own best interests?

It's OUR responsibility, folks. It's the responsibility of Democrats & the Democratic party, & if we don't do it, & if we don't do it effectively, in ways that produce results, we will continue to lose working-class voters.

[Justice matters.]

44. They watch Fox News.

Because they like what they see?

They don't like MSNBC I guess. These losers never will.

[Omaha Steve]

45. After a review by forum hosts....LOCKING

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