In American politics, working-class votes are a requirement for electoral success. Frustratingly, however, Democratic candidates who want to run campaigns that appeal to the working class often find themselves running against their own party, too.

A new report from the Center for Working-Class Politics (CWCP) and Jacobin analyzes 128 questions from gold-standard academic surveys administered over the past few decades to understand the preferences and priorities of the working class and how they have evolved over time. Our findings underscore that Democrats can win back working-class voters by focusing on economic populist policies. It may seem obvious, but most Democratic candidates and strategists have failed to grasp this simple formula in recent years. Now the party ship is sinking, and it’s time to take this finding seriously.

Our research found that economically populist policies — like a higher federal minimum wage, limits on imports to protect US jobs, and expanding Medicare — appeal to working-class people on both sides of the aisle. We also went further, examining the appeal of specific policies to one particular group of working-class voters: those who voted for Donald Trump in 2020. We found that there is significant potential for Democratic candidates to win these voters back in upcoming elections, provided they stake out an economically progressive position.