Do White Working-Class Voters Oppose the Safety Net and Economic Support Systems? No, They Do Not.

It's fashionable in liberal circles these days to bemoan the white working class" rejection of social welfare policies, due to the baleful influence of racism. But this is a good example of something everyone knows to be true that isn't. John Halpin examines the data on what these voters really think at The Liberal Patriot:

"If you drop into any progressive discussion group these days, or pick up the New York Times, you’ll hear nonstop chatter about the “race-class” dynamic and how white people’s racism, stoked by nefarious elites, prevents them from supporting policies that would reduce inequality. This is probably the most fashionable theory in all of left politics these days.

But the entire theory is built on an assertion, not empirical reality. Do white working-class voters oppose the safety net and economic support systems? No, they do not.

Multiple public opinion studies on anti-poverty programs and basic attitudes about government support for low-income people show that most white non-college educated voters back these interventions and oppose efforts to reduce them.

For example, a project I helped to develop in 2018 explored voter reactions to a range of proposals in the Trump/GOP budget to slash and restrict the safety net. Ideology and partisanship emerged as the defining lines for support or opposition to anti-poverty programs, not race."

Read Halpin's full analysis with data tables at The Liberal Patriot!

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White Non-College Voters Don't Oppose Social Welfare Programs

How misperceptions among progressive elites block unified coalitions to help all working-class communities