A new report from two progressive professors on the gap between the political priorities of college-educated Democrats and working-class voters offers advice for Demcoratic campaigners that I’ll never take: stop talking about defending democracy and resisting authoritarianism:
The greatest divide is on the issue of “resisting authoritarianism.”
“Resisting authoritarianism is the second-highest priority for liberal college grads, but for workers, it’s like 19 out of 20,” said [auhtor and law professor Joan C.] Williams.
Defending democracy was a major theme of Vice President Kamala Harris’ losing presidential campaign in 2024. She delivered her closing argumentfrom the White House Ellipse, recounting President Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
Another major theme of her campaign was defending abortion access. Those are two issues, according to the report, “that liberal college grads prioritize but most working-class Americans don’t.”
The lesson, they argue, isn’t that working-class voters are unreachable. It’s that you can’t reach them if you’re not focused on the issues they care about the most.
“If we really care about stopping authoritarianism, if we really care about defending democracy, we have to stop talking about defending democracy in the way that we’ve been doing for the last too many years,” Abbott said.
So, what should Democrats be talking about? The economy, and not just in abstract terms like “affordability,” because wages are as important as costs, the researchers find.
“Ten out of 12 workers’ top priorities are economics, so if you want them to vote for you, talk about economics,” Williams said [Tamara Keith, “To Win Over Working-Class Voters, Democrats Need to Stop Talking About Democracy,” NPR: Morning Edition, 2026.07.29].
Bonk. If voters care more about their paychecks than the principles of democracy, the solution is not to talk about kitchen-table economics instead of grassroots political engagement and the rule of law. The solution is to talk about all of those things. Yes, mid-term Democratic candidates, hammer away at how Trump and Rhoden are suppressing our wages, raising our costs, and raising taxes on workers while funneling tax breaks to wealthy pals. But also use your precious time in the candidate spotlight to educate voters, to make them see that better pay and cheaper eggs won’t last and won’t matter if we let Republicans rig elections, erode our voice in our government, and ignore the rule of law.
Voters’ priorities matter for winning elections. But Democratic candidates have principles, too (they’re in the name: Democratic). We don’t hold principles because they win votes; we hold them because they are right, because they are the proper basis for civilization, and because they ought to be held and cherished and fought for by everybody. We need to win elections to put those principles into practice, but we need to make clear to voters what principles we intend to put into practice, why we hold those principles, and why voters ought to hold them, too.