The 2024 Election Marked the Inversion of the Electoral Map [Video]

Donald Trump’s sweep of the swing states and popular vote victory have left Democrats wondering why economic pessimism drove voters away from Kamala Harris, despite a “strong” economy. They’re also desperately trying to figure out how Trump managed to make inroads into Black and Hispanic working-class communities. 

Answering these questions is critical for the party to bounce back in 2026 and 2028. But they also miss the broader picture. 

The 2024 election represented the consolidation of a slow transformation in American party politics. In the mid-20th century, Democratic and Republican support was rooted in a particular combination of class politics and political geography, with Democrats’ emerging strength centered in blue-collar areas, especially in small cities and factory towns across the urban industrial North, and Republicans enjoying far greater success in middle-class suburbs. Over the ensuing 75 years, however, that electoral map has slowly, but inexorably, inverted, thanks to changes in the U.S. economy that have opened the …