Democrats on campus have been eerily idle as the Trump administration guts what little social safety net American workers had won and undermines the foundations of our democracy. One might expect mass mobilizations to Democratic groups at such a time, and yet students seem more disinterested than ever. Many race to blame messaging as the root of this issue, but this masks a far deeper problem both on campus and at the national level: the Democratic platform is fundamentally unsuited to modern-day politics.
In 2024, Donald Trump won convincingly with strong working-class support. Among white working-class voters Trump won 66% of the vote, but Trump’s working-class Black and Latino support also rose substantially. Initially this seems surprising; Trump advocates tax cuts for the super-rich and seems hell-bent on cutting key social services. This apparent contradiction in working-class voting has led many Democrats to lay the blame for their electoral defeat on some sort of inherent stupidity or bigotry of Trump’s working-class base—the “basket of deplorables” as Hillary Clinton infamously called them in her 2016 campaign.
Democrats are correct that Donald Trump’s policies cannot resolve the challenges facing the American working class. However, what establishment Democrats ignore is that Trump places these challenges at the center of his political rhetoric; Democrats do not. Trump frequently decries the dissolution of manufacturing jobs, the unmanageable cost-of-living crisis and the decay of the American Dream. Trump holds that we can alleviate working-class hardship through deportations, tariffs, and funding cuts. These are radical proposals purportedly aimed at helping working Americans, though it is highly doubtful they will be able to do so. Because Trump’s platform on these problems has been met with no real counterproposals from the Left, Trump has been able to monopolize the narrative on improving working-class conditions. Working-class people unsurprisingly flocked en masse to the polls for Trump.
American workers are not stupid or delusional. The far-right has capitalized on class anger effectively, while the Democrats have focused on identity politics and economic moderatism. Because American workers are generally not trained policy analysts or economists, Trump’s false promises seem convincing in the absence of any other class-based narrative. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to misattribute their losses to overly radical policy and repeatedly moderate their platform, hemorrhaging working-class voters.
To earn back the support of the American worker, Democrats must offer a genuinely left-wing economic alternative to Trumpism and the neoliberal status quo. This is not just a moral prerogative; it is electorally essential for Democratic recovery. A recent study by the Center for Working Class Politics and Jacobin found strong support among working-class Americans – including many Trump voters – for left-wing, “economic populist” policy.
Young people today are expected to enjoy a lower standard of living than their parents. Entry-level paid jobs are disappearing, housing is unaffordable, and a college degree no longer guarantees a comfortable life. Young people are less likely to be drawn by their economic despair to the far-right, but they do make up a growing share of disillusioned non-voters. Yet, young people still show excitement at promises of real economic change from the Left. According to a 2025 Cato Institute study, 62% of Americans under 30 view socialism favorably.
With this in mind, one should not be surprised at the political apathy of many left-leaning Davidson students. Students on the Left have little expression beyond the Davidson Democrats, while the Right is well-organized and funded (with what seems like new organizations weekly) despite being decisively in the minority. As on the national scale, an inspiring alternative with concrete, principled aims is needed.
The potential for a powerful coalition of workers and youth behind socialist candidates is colossal. Consider the NYC mayoral primary. Zohran Mamdani mobilized young voters and campaigned on working-class issues. Mamdani won the most votes in NYC primary history in a massive upset against Andrew Cuomo, who enjoyed name recognition, support of Super-PACs, and backing from the Democratic establishment. Note that NYC moved towards Trump from 2020-2024, and yet simultaneously went from electing moderate Eric Adams in 2021 to nominating socialist Zohran Mamdani in 2025. The American people are not rejecting the Left; they are rejecting the status quo.
This phenomenon can be seen across the world: where left-wing alternatives exist, they are rising alongside the right. In the UK, the Greens are skyrocketing under new socialist leadership, recently exceeding the Conservatives in membership. In Germany, Die Linke doubled its vote share in 2025. In France, the NFP alliance won a plurality of seats in 2024, when most analysts were predicting a far-right victory. In Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has made historic gains for Mexican workers and enjoys 78% approval. The bottom line is this: socialist strategies win elections. If the Democrats are serious about combatting the far-right, socialism is the only way forward.
Ethan Barnett ’27 is a Political Science and Computer Science double major from London, England. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
