Redistribution Isn’t Enough

What support for Trumpism suggests about the limits of our prevailing political theories.

  • As shown by political scientist Larry Bartels, working class voters with conservative social views are more likely to split their votes between Democrats and Republicans, suggesting that class isn’t what drives their views.
  • Additionally, in contrast to the “left behind” hypothesis that falling incomes make people more likely to “cling to their guns and religion,” Bartels finds that it’s rising incomes that often precede people shifting conservative, not the reverse.
  • Northwestern professor Thomas Ogorzalek and colleagues find that being white and relatively affluent within one’s county was a better predictor of voting for Trump and Republicans as far back as 2000, than being of more modest means.
  • And as Adam Sewar pointed out in the Atlantic, in 2016, those who earned less than $50,000 were more likely to vote for Clinton than Trump by a margin of 53 to 41.
  1. First, they would agree that each person should have a right to live their life as they see fit, provided it doesn’t infringe on others’ ability to do the same.
  2. Second, social and economic inequalities will be allowed only insofar as they are to everyone’s benefit (especially the poor), and that positions of status are equally open to all.

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I write about healthcare, social capital and political philosophy in today’s digital economy.

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Bernie Zipprich

I write about healthcare, social capital and political philosophy in today’s digital economy.