The working-class voters Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign needed were not moved by talk of joy. They were too angry about feeling broke.
For decades, Democrats had been the party of labor and of the working class, the choice for voters who looked to government to increase the minimum wage or provide a safety net for the poor, the old and the sick. But this year’s election results show how thoroughly that idea has collapsed even among Latino, Black and Asian American voters who had stuck by the party through Donald J. Trump’s first term.
Latinos had signaled what was coming: They drifted away from Democrats and toward Mr. Trump in 2020, before defecting in greater numbers this year. But working-class Black and Asian American voters have also now broken ranks in startling numbers.
The losses up and down the ballot leave Democrats in crisis. Voters without a college degree make up a solid majority of the electorate. Without them, the White House could be out of reach. And for a party that stands for and takes pride in its diversity, the erosion of support from voters of color calls its identity into question.
Yet interviews over the past year with hundreds of working-class minority voters revealed the challenges confronting Democrats as both clear and daunting. For many, hope had already hardened into cynicism. Promises about affordable housing fell flat and promoting accomplishments on insulin prices failed to break through. Simply put, their trust in the Democratic Party was gone.
“Democrats flipped,” said Daniel Trujillo, who owns a barbershop in East Las Vegas and watched many of his customers shift from supporting Barack Obama to favoring Mr. Trump. “They went from being for the working class to, if you’re not college-educated and have money, you’re not worthy.” He said he had watched with delight as his customers increasingly warmed toward Mr. Trump.
