Why Is Your State Red or Blue? Look to the Dominant Occupational Class

We typically divide the electoral map into red and blue states, and class is a feature, if not the key feature, in that divide. What we are witnessing is nothing less than a great inversion of America’s political geography. Dating back to FDR and the New Deal, the blue-collar working class once provided the backbone of the Democratic electorate, but today, states with larger working-class populations have swung solidly into the Republican camp. And, blue states have become those where the knowledge, professionals, and cultural workers that make up the creative class predominate.

That’s the key takeaway from an analysis of the connection between class and American politics I conducted with Patrick Adler and Charlotta Mellander. Our analysis looked at the role of class (defined as the kinds of work people do) and voting in the last three presidential elections.