Can Economic Populism Save the Democratic Party?

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.6 • 11K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The “Democratic penalty” should scare the hell out of Democrats. The Democratic Party brand has become toxic in certain parts of the country, especially with working- class voters. The Center for Working-Class Politics has actually measured this so-called “Democratic penalty,” and found it’s in the double digits in some Rust Belt states. So what should Democrats do about it? One theory says that Democrats were once economic populists and just need to be again. Another theory says that the working class feels left behind and looked down on by a Democratic Party that has moved sharply left on culture, on climate, on guns, on immigration. Jared Abbott is the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, which has done a lot of research and polling on working- class voters. So I asked him on the show to talk through these theories and what it would take for Democrats to once again be the party of the working class. Mentioned: “Compensate the Losers?” Economic Policy and Partisan Realignment in the US “Representation Gaps: Changes in Popular Preferences and the Structure of Partisan Competition in the Developed Democracies” by Peter A. Hall and Georgina Evans Book Recommendations: Rust Belt Union Blues by Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol We’re Still Here by Jennifer M. Silva America, América by Greg Grandin Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The Democratic Party sees itself as a party of the working class.
0:34.5	To the extent it has any shared self-identity at all, it is that. But the Democratic Party is no longer the party of the working class. To the extent it has any shared self-identity at all, it is that. But the Democratic Party is no
0:40.4	longer the party of the working class. Doesn't matter if you define the working class by income,
0:45.0	by education, or both. Democrats have been losing ground among these voters for years now.
0:50.8	In 2024, Donald Trump won both voters making less than $50,000 a year, and he won voters without a college degree.
0:57.6	And the way Trump won these voters wasn't just to rack up a giant majority among the white working class.
1:04.7	First in 2020 and then even more so in 2024, Trump made huge gains among working class Hispanic voters, significant gains among
1:12.4	black voters. Republicans are building the multiracial working class coalition. The Democrats
1:18.3	imagine themselves as speaking for. There are two theories of how Democrats lost the working
1:24.6	class and what it might take to win them back.
1:31.7	One theory says that Democrats were once economic populace, and they just need to be that again.
1:38.2	The other theory says that the working class knows perfectly well. The Republicans cut taxes for the rich,
1:44.1	and Democrats expand health care for the poor. But the working class feels unrepresented by Democrats in a broader way, left behind
1:45.9	and looked down upon by a party that's moved sharply left on culture, on climate, on guns, on
1:51.1	immigration, a party that doesn't talk like them and doesn't like the way they talk. Jared Abbott
1:58.0	is a director of the center for working class politics.
2:05.9	His group has done a huge amount of polling and research on what working class voters believe and what they want to see in their politicians.
2:09.1	Among their findings is what they call the Democratic penalty, which is a force that should
2:15.0	scare the hell out of Democrats.
2:17.4	So I asked him on the show to describe what he's found and what do it take for Democrats to one which is a force that should scare the hell out of Democrats.
2:19.7	So I asked him on the show to describe what he's found and what it would take for Democrats to once again be the party of the working class.
	...

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