In 2016, many white working class voters voted for Trump (and other Republicans). This shocked many Democrats, because it has been the Democratic Party that has provided help for the working class. Republicans have never done so.
Democrats are looking for ways to get this vote back. Some think that Democrats just need to do a better job of explaining how the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better bill would help workers -- and that is true. But it doesn't go far enough.
Democrats should learn from how the Republicans have been successful. They don't run on their record. The only real record they have in recent years is giving the rich and corporations a huge tax break. Look at any Republican political ad -- they are almost exclusively a rant on how terrible the Democrats are for the country. It's not true, but those negative ads work. It's how the GOP has survived in the last few years.
It's time for Democrats to fight fire with fire.
Now some of those white working class voters are racists, and they vote for Republicans because the GOP has provided a home for racists (and even nominated one to be their leader). Forget those racist voters. There aren't enough of them to swing an election, and no decent party would want them anyway.
But many white working class voters can be reached. Democrats should tell them how much they've done for them. But Paul Waldman (in The Washington Post) is right -- that's only half of the battle. Democrats must make it clear just how bad the Republicans have been for workers.
That won't be hard to do, because Republicans really have been bad for the working class. They voted against raising the minimum wage. They voted against making health care more affordable and expansive. They voted against helping people get and afford child care. They voted to make it harder to form a labor union. They voted against making the rich (especially billionaires) and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. They voted against badly needed infrastructure. They have been the best friend of the COVID-19 virus -- campaigning against vaccinations and wearing masks.
That's just a short list. The truth is that Republicans have never helped workers -- only the rich and corporations. But it goes further. While Republicans claim to be the better party for the economy, that is not true. The economy (GDP, job creation, stock market, wages, etc.) does much better when Democrats are in power.
Democrats must tell voters how bad the Republicans are, and the best part is, they only have to tell the truth to do so!