West Virginia, 1921: 10,000 armed coal miners rise up against their employers in an attempt to unionize, and Republican President Warren G. Harding reacts by sending in the army. The Battle of Blair Mountain — as this confrontation came to be known — was the largest labor uprising in American history.
Until a few years ago, it seemed impossible to imagine that such a revolt could occur again in the United States. But in 2026, it no longer seems so far-fetched. Members of the white working class are once again rallying against elites as a result of dissatisfaction with living and working conditions. This time, though, public opinion has realigned the Republican Party with the white working class, while the Democratic Party has become associated with the college-educated liberal.
Many white working-class Americans feel disenfranchised by progressive elites, making them especially susceptible to anti-immigrant and racist messaging. Politicians like Trump fuel this flame, framing the solution to their economic hardship around the elimination of the most vulnerable group: undocumented immigrants.
The white working-class, however, is not a monolith; they are a heterogeneous group with varying levels of class consciousness and prejudice. While progressive factions seek to mobilize the American public, they fail to meaningfully engage the bulk of the white working class, instead painting a harmful caricature of an uneducated underclass not even worth engaging with. The Democratic elite’s blanket characterization of white working-class individuals as fundamentally racist and anti-immigrant has only further solidified these party divisions.
As a result, the white working-class has been driven further to the right, constructing a seemingly intractable obstacle to forming a multi-racial working-class coalition. The white working class’ distrust of Democratic elites has created an environment ripe for conspiracy theories. This distrust has culminated in The Great Replacement Theory, in which liberal elites are said to be encouraging immigration from non-white countries into the United States in order to eventually supplant the white population and purposefully alter the racial makeup of the United States.
No one reading this will dispute that the hard-lined proponents of the Great Replacement Theory carry bias against immigrant and non-white populations, and thus, one might be tempted to throw out the underlying concerns altogether. That being said, one key aspect of this conspiracy theory is supported by virtually all reputable sources on U.S. demographic predictions: According to projections by the U.S. Census, the United States will cease to be a majority-white country by 2045.
As racial minorities make up a greater proportion of the population, their influence will naturally increase in all sectors of American society — from politics to economic development. A changing demographic tide has resulted in increased anti-immigrant sentiment; this played a critical role in Donald Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024.
Liberals tend to believe that partisan polarization is due to the white working class’ fundamental hatred of immigrants, rather than ideological opposition to Democratic policy. When you actually study the white working class, however, the problem is not this straightforward. A paper from the journal of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy identified distinct categories of ideological inclinations within the white working-class itself. Yes, some members of the working class position themselves as anti-elite, anti-progressive and anti-immigrant. However, a majority of the white working-class is found to be sympathetic with immigrants and racial minorities while also holding overt anti-elite beliefs. The clear presence of simultaneous anti-elite sentiment alongside acceptance of immigrants and racial minorities speaks to the real possibility of a potential multi-racial progressive coalition in the United States.
Working-class whites did not vote for Trump simply because they are “racist” or “stupid”, but because, to them, he represented a radical departure from decades of elite-dominated politics that destroyed their hopes for upward mobility and financial stability. Over the past few decades, working-class wages have stagnated, making blue-collar work unsustainable. In contrast, the dominance of automation and digital technology in the American economy has led to increasing wages for college-educated workers. The working-class won’t stand for politics that work against their interests. Ever-increasing economic inequality has created an environment ripe for political polarization, and set up the perfect conditions for conspiracy theories that paint an oversimplified picture of the world, yet offer much-needed explanations for the disenfranchised working class.
As Democrats seem likely to beat Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections, and attitudes toward immigration dramatically improve amongst the general population, it is more important than ever for progressive college students to avoid alienating those shifting away from far-right politics. We need to start building coalitions between progressives and working-class whites. In order to foster a better future, the American working class must unite in the face of attempts by the political elite to carve out factions among us.
As college students within a progressive bubble, we must overcome the seemingly intractable yet artificial barriers standing in the way of solidarity. The simplest way to approach this is by continuing to be open-minded about who we build connections with, and — most importantly — avoid buying into sensationalized imaginations of those different from ourselves.
Rafael Hernandez Guerrero PZ ’29 is “from” a poverty-stricken shanty town known as “Boulder, Colorado” and “he” “lowkirkenuinely” wishes you a fantabulous rest of your “day”.
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