I believe it is an open question whether these reformist Democrats are really interested in understanding working-class voters on their own terms. A segment of the progressive left has a ready answer: Democrats abandoned working-class voters economically – on trade, wages and industrial policy. What fairness requiresIn 1984, Democrats and working-class voters broadly agreed that treating people more equally would mean fewer social problems. On support for expanding government – from healthcare to jobs to environmental programs – Democrats and working-class voters have diverged dramatically since the 1980s. The data documents a comprehensive, decades-long divergence in how working-class voters and mainstream Democrats understand fairness, government, personal responsibility and social change.