It's not the economy, stupid

The Democrats' jobs guarantee won't win back Trump voters

Arguing demonstrators.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

This is the editor’s letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.

To woo the white working class, should Democrats move to the left? This question is dividing a party still traumatized by 2016, with Sen. Bernie Sanders and its rising young presidential contenders pledging support for both single-payer health care and a guaranteed government jobs program. But there's reason to wonder whether reviving the New Deal can reclaim the hearts of former Democrats who switched to Donald Trump. A new University of Pennsylvania study of these pivotal voters found the anxiety and anger that Trump tapped was not primarily economic; it was cultural. White Christians, especially men, felt they were becoming a scorned, increasingly powerless minority in a country that was once theirs. Trump promised to take it back. In 2018 and 2020, the old James Carville battle cry — "It's the economy, stupid" — may no longer apply.

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William Falk

William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.