Workers First: Trump Transforms The GOP

The emerging coalition of patriotic populism continues to reshape American politics. For starters, it propelled Donald Trump to the most impressive political comeback in US political history. Both the election results from November 5th and the latest polling prove that the transformed Republican Party of Trump and Vance has become the true political home of workers in America.

In a post-election national survey of 1,550 citizens, by a 45-41% margin, voters declared that Republicans “best represent the interest of American workers.” The survey was conducted by TIPP Insight and used a survey sample that was exactly split between Trump and Harris voters.

That kind of shift regarding workers is tectonic. In fact, it’s difficult to exaggerate how structurally material this realignment is for the politics into 2025, and for future cycles. After all, for decades the Democratic Party has claimed to be the advocacy home for workers. In past generations, that assertion may have been based in reality.

But the Democrats of the 2020’s are not your parents or grandparents’ Democrats. There are no Tip O’Neil’s or Harry Truman’s among the corrupt, globalist radicals that now dominate the opposition party today.

In fact, Democrats increasingly tie themselves to Big Business. In turn, those multinational firms agree to push the toxic cultural pollution narratives of the secular humanist Left. This unholy alliance produces policies that work well for the Ruling Class, such as open borders. Mega-cap corporations get the cheap labor they want to exploit, and Democrats get new voters (or, at least they presume).

But American workers get shafted in the deal – and they’ve had enough!

Just look at the election results. Even Democrat activist Ronald Brownstein conceded this point in a CNN article, observing that “the Democrats’ last line of defense against Republican inroads among working-class voters is continuing to crumble.” Brownstein further noted that even biased union leaders “could not prevent Donald Trump from making big gains among their members without a college degree.”

Even CNN analysts get it! The numbers prove Brownstein’s point. For instance, among white union members without a college degree, Trump trounced Harris by a whopping +26%, winning 62-36%. These voters realize that the Democrats have abused their trust for years, and they see in Donald Trump a leader who will champion workers and prioritize their interests.

For example, these workers insist that their wages be protected against illegal and unjust competition from hordes of trespassers pouring across America’s border. In my League of American Workers national survey, by a giant +22% margin, 58-36%, voters support mass deportations. Not surprisingly, the income group most in favor of deportations: middle-income earners who make $50,000-75,000 per year.

In addition to the policy failures of the Democrats regarding working-class citizens, blue collar Americans also recoil against the optics of the elitist Democrats. To this point, a Teamsters official Dustin Guastella, writing in the Left-leaning Guardian newspaper, conceded that the “folkways, mannerisms, and tastes of salaried high-income professionals have come to define the [Democratic] party, and now serve as a powerful repellent for working-class voters.”

So, both in substance and style, the Democrats continue to abandon working-class Americans. But, for those of us working to build a broad, lasting patriotic populist movement, we cannot only rely upon the stumbles of our opponents. Rather, we must also provide the positive policy and cultural magnet for workers to rally toward.

On this theme, Americans have high hopes for the incoming administration. By a substantial +13% margin, Americans nationally say their economic confidence has improved since the election. Among middle-income earners, that improved confidence margin increases to +18%, 52-34%.

Once the Trump/Vance administration delivers on policy promises regarding the economy, especially on issues that benefit workers, these already-impressive gains will accelerate. Here’s the main takeaway: our movement has earned the trust of workers. Now, it is an imperative to show that their trust is well-placed. Doing so will act as a propellant for the emerging America First coalition that can dominate American politics for decades to come.

Steve Cortes is former senior advisor to President Trump and JD Vance, former commentator for Fox News and CNN, and president of the League of American Workers, a populist right pro-laborer advocacy group.