Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party Newman Lainey

In the heyday of American labor, the influence of local unions extended far beyond the workplace. They conveyed fundamental worldviews, making blue-collar unionists into loyal Democrats who saw the party as on the side of the working man. Unions were embedded in tight-knit communities, touching nearly every aspect of the lives of members--mostly men--and their families and neighbors.

In industrial and formerly industrial Rust Belt towns, Republican-leaning groups and outlooks have burgeoned among the kinds of voters who once would have been part of union communities.Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol provide timely insight into the relationship between the decline of unions and the shift of working-class voters away from Democrats. Today, unions play a much less significant role in American life. Drawing on interviews, union newsletters, and ethnographic analysis, they pinpoint the