How Biden Won Back (Enough of) the White Working Class

He showed up, talked about jobs, and treated voters with respect.

by

Joan C. Williams

by

Joan C. Williams

November 10, 2020

Jim Watson/Getty Images

Summary.

Joe Biden won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and the Democrats saw an increased share of votes from white working-class voters in 2020. What did he do to win this crucial support in the heartland? Three things. He went there frequently, which Hillary Clinton did not. Biden talked about jobs, with the message that “we can revitalize our industrial base at the heart of the American middle class.” Most importantly, Biden treated working-class whites with respect.

After 2016, Democrats worried whether they could appeal to enough white working-class Trump voters to win in 2020 without alienating and disrespecting a key Democratic constituency: voters of color.

Joan C. Williams is a Sullivan Professor of Law at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco and the founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law. An expert on social inequality, she is the author of 12 books, including Bias Interrupted: Creating Inclusion for Real and for Good (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021) and White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019). To learn about her evidence-based, metrics-driven approach to eradicating implicit bias in the workplace, visit www.biasinterrupters.org.

How Biden Won Back (Enough of) the White Working Class

Partner Center

Explore HBR

HBR Store

About HBR

Manage My Account

Follow HBR