New fault lines are emerging in American society based more on class than race.
The shift helped deliver the White House to Donald Trump and could continue to alter the political landscape if more Americans identify themselves less in the context of race and gender and more as belonging to a certain economic class.
“Race is not an issue for me,” said Aaron Waters, a Black unionized construction worker in Chicago who voted for Trump after voting for President Biden and Barack Obama in past elections. “It’s about what you can do for each and every one of us as a whole, as a U.S. citizen.”
Trump made gains with most demographic groups in this month’s election. But one of the biggest swings was among voters of all races who don’t have a four-year college degree. He won them by 13 percentage points this time versus 4 percentage points in 2020—a huge change in a group that accounted for more than half of the electorate. College-educated voters of all races also swung to Trump, but to a much smaller degree.
