Heartland Politics with Robin Johnson

Rust Belt Unions Blues: Why Working-class Voters Are Turning Away From the Democratic Party

By Robin Johnson

Published February 29, 2024 at 11:01 PM CST

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Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol, authors of Rust Belt Unions Blues: Why Working-class Voters Are Turning Away From the Democratic Party, discuss their research among working class union members in western Pennsylvania and why the decline of unions played a major role in their realignment. This important book highlights the importance of local community ties and identity and why most ideas to regain the working class to the Democratic Party will fail.

Heartland Politics with Robin Johnson

Robin Johnson

Robin A. Johnson is a governmental relations, public policy and political consultant. He is an expert on government reform issues and has consulted with numerous local governments on consolidation/merger, public-private partnerships and full-cost accounting of public services. Robin has also helped candidates win elections for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, state legislature, judiciary and local government. Robin served as a consultant to the Office of Statewide Performance Review in the Illinois Governor’s Office and is former director of the Illinois Center for Competitive Government, a partnership between the Illinois Comptroller’s Office and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University. Prior to that, he was Director of the Local Government Affairs Division of the Illinois Comptroller’s Office. Robin served on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) in 1999-2000.

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