Heartland Politics with Robin Johnson

How Democrats Lost the Working Class

By Robin Johnson

Published January 10, 2025 at 9:59 AM CST

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Jonathan Weisman, an economics and labor policy reporter for the New
York Times, discusses a recent article he wrote on how the slippage of
working class support for Democrats predated Trump, the rise of
consumerism as a more powerful force than production, psychological
damage done by factory closures, Obama's failure to address the issue,
why Biden's policies didn't attract more working class voters, and much
more.

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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