Both the conservative Arthur Brooks (the American Enterprise Institute) and the progressive Ruy Teixeira (The Liberal Patriot), observes The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes, agree that dismissing "working-class voters as ignorant, irrational bigots, who really don’t understand the economy or even their own self-interest" is a Democratic conceit, which the writers also rightly label as "contempt."
And that, add Brooks and Teixeira, is a political blunder of the first magnitude. Yet, that said, they then unwittingly justify this "elitist" Democratic contempt. Here's Sykes paraphrasing the twosome's criticism:
"It’s important for Democrats to understand just how poorly the Biden economy has played with working-class voters so far: A recent Quinnipiac poll found Biden with a 25% approval on the economy among white working-class (non-college) voters vs. 52% approval on the economy among white college grad voters.
"And white working class voters are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the national economy (75%), and are pessimistic (82%) about the cost of goods and services, a recent CBS News poll found."
Now, putting aside "irrational bigotry" as immeasurable statistically, it's obvious that some significant portion — in fact, 25% — of working-class voters are pretty well informed about the true economy. But I ask you: Is not contempt the proper attitude to hold about voters who are so willingly blind to economic reality that they believe President Biden deserves no credit for its smooth, positive workings? Who are pessimistic about the economy's short-term prospects, notwithstanding that virtually all systems are go?
"Contempt" is indeed a harsh word. It is not, however, an unfair word when applied to those who choose to simply not keep up.
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P.S.: A reader abroad inadvertently reminded me that the only problem with the above observation is that I foolishly limited it to the working class. In my defense, I did so only because that was the socioeconomic order addressed by Brooks and Teixeira, whom I was disputing. So, to be clear, the criticism applies to all classes.