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RUST BELT VOTERS ARE SICK OF BOTH PARTIES  
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Jared Abbott and Les Leopold
June 20, 2025
Jacobin
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_ Polling shows Americans are ready to support independent populists
running on economic platforms. But what they don’t want is anything
associated with the Democratic Party’s brand. _

A substantial majority of respondents in the Rust Belt said they
would support or strongly support a new workers political association.
, Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images

 

Support for America’s two major political parties has been on the
decline — and it’s only getting worse. Today political
independents by far outnumber
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of either Democrats or Republicans. Up to two-thirds of Americans have
reported in surveys
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that they think both parties do such a bad job that a third major
party is needed. Of course, just because voters don’t like either
major party doesn’t mean they’d be willing to support
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a third party, especially since that support would depend, among other
things, on the type of party on offer.

But the combination of widespread disaffection alongside extreme party
polarization has put more and more races outside the realm of
possibility for _any_ Democrat. Even economic populist Dems, like
former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, who avoid most of the pitfalls
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that plague Democrats’ reputation among working class voters, are
unable to overcome this dynamic. The Democratic brand is now simply
too tarnished and polarization too strong among working-class voters
in many purple and especially red states.

Today most Democrats simply can’t win — and there is increasingly
little that can be done about it. As Bernie Sanders has recently
argued, [[link removed]]
it is “highly unlikely” that the Democratic high command will
“learn the lessons of their defeat and create a party that stands
with the working class and is prepared to take on the enormously
powerful special interests that dominate our economy, our media, and
our political life.”

But could _independent _economic populist candidates break through to
the voters that Democrats have lost? How much electoral support might
there be for independent candidates who run on a strictly pro-worker
agenda independent of _both _major parties?

Americans Say They’re Ready for an Independent Pro-Worker Party

To get a sense of the level of support that such candidates might
receive in red and purple states, we included a question in a recent
survey conducted with YouGov. We asked respondents in four rustbelt
states whether they would support an independent political association
that ran candidates on a strictly economic populist, pro-worker
platform — and then asked them to rate the level of support they’d
give them. The survey of 3,000 adult residents in Michigan, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin reveals strong support for a new political
organization that would run and back economic populist candidates
independent of the Democrats and the Republicans.

The survey, designed by the Center for Working Class Politics and the
Labor Institute, included a question that asked respondents to give
their opinion of a new working-class political organization that
championed a bold set of progressive economic issues that included a
mix of popular policies that are already in the Democrats’ platform
— but are underutilized in their messaging —
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as well as jobs-focused polices that go further toward addressing
decades of working-class decline. Specifically, the question asked:

WOULD YOU SUPPORT A NEW ORGANIZATION, THE INDEPENDENT WORKERS
POLITICAL ASSOCIATION, THAT WOULD SUPPORT WORKING-CLASS ISSUES
INDEPENDENT OF BOTH THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES. IT WOULD
RUN AND SUPPORT INDEPENDENT POLITICAL CANDIDATES COMMITTED TO A
PLATFORM THAT INCLUDED

* Stop big companies that receive tax dollars from laying off
workers who pay taxes.
* Guarantee everyone who wants to work has a decent-paying job, and
if the private sector can’t provide it, the government will
* Raise the minimum wage so every family can lead a decent life
* Stop drug company price-gouging and put price controls on food
cartels

Despite the fact that a federal jobs guarantee and restrictions on
corporate layoffs go well beyond the edge of what most
Democratic-leaning politicians and pundits
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believe most would accept, we find strong overall support for the
program in these pivotal working-class-heavy states
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substantial majority of respondents (57%) in the Rust Belt said they
would support or strongly support a new workers political association,
while just 19% expressed opposition. This amounts to 39% net support
for the association.

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Just as important, the idea of running independent candidates on a
pro-worker platform was particularly appealing to precisely the kinds
of voters Democrats have struggled
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most to persuade or turn out in recent elections. For example, support
for a working-class political association consistently runs higher
among working-class voters. Respondents without a four-year college
degree show 60% support, versus just 52% among college graduates. The
same pattern holds across income groups as well: while just 39% of
those making over $250,000 supported the workers’ organization,
support rose steadily with falling income: 53% among those earning
$100,000 to $149,000; 57% at $60,000 to $99,000; 60% at $30,000 to
$59,000; and 66% among those making under $30,000. In turn, renters
(68%) were far more supportive than homeowners (54%), and 59%
respondents who hold working-class occupations favored the
organization, compared to just 55% among non-working-class
respondents.

Respondents who reported higher degrees of job insecurity — a
demographic critical
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to Donald Trump’s 2024 victory — also showed stronger than average
support for independent economic populism. Those who say they are
“very insecure” in their jobs support the organization at 74%,
compared to 56% among those who are “very secure.”

Similarly, those who are “not confident” they could find a new job
if laid off show 62% support, compared to just 54% among respondents
who were more confident. Support also rises with perceived downward
mobility: 66% of those who say they are “much worse off” than
their parents support the organization, compared to just 54% of those
who say they are “much better off.”

The  independent worker’s organization also enjoyed stronger
backing
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among the racial and ethnic minority groups that swung toward Trump in
2024: while support is 57% among white respondents, it rose to 66%
among black respondents and 68% among Hispanic respondents. Finally,
while support among those who voted recently is 57%, it climbs to 62%
among those who did not vote, and the critically import youth vote
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also showed particularly strong support for independent working-class
politics — 71% of respondents under the age of thirty supported the
organization, compared 51% of those over sixty.

Overall, the independent workers association appealed most to the very
constituencies that Democrats have struggled to mobilize or retain in
recent cycles: working-class Americans, people of color, and those who
feel that the American Dream is slipping away. The organization’s
strong appeal to these groups highlights not only its potential, but
also the scale of the political vacuum left by a Democratic Party that
has often failed to speak convincingly to their economic insecurity
and sense of exclusion from the political system.

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But Can a Working Peoples Political Movement Be Built?
It’s certainly encouraging that a working-class political movement
independent of both the Republicans and the Democrats polls well, but
given the many barriers
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to independent politics in the United States, is it really possible to
build such a movement? There’s no doubt that the obstacles are very
real and have hindered all attempts to build strong third parties of
any kind for over a century. These include
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our winner-take-all electoral system, highly restrictive ballot access
laws, and the increasing dominance of money in politics.

Based on an awareness of these constraints, many commentators have
argued that independent candidates can be little more than spoilers to
help elect more Republicans. It would be far more effective, according
to these critics, to simply nudge more Democrats toward populist
economic positions (which, in fairness, a small number of Democrats
already do more or less effectively).

While there is obviously sound logic in supporting Democrats in places
where party competition is high, our survey results suggest that
progressives really need to start thinking more outside the box in
places where Republicans are strong. We know from a range of
successful recent progressive economic ballot initiatives
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in red and purple states that when partisanship is taken out of the
equation, populist economics can cut through to a much broader
coalition of Americans than Democrats could hope to reach in the
foreseeable future.

Our survey results suggest that this logic can be extended to
political candidates as well: even a robust progressive economic
platform that includes economic measures far to the left of what even
the most economic populist Democrats typically propose can garner
widespread support — if it’s not attached to the Democratic
Party’s brand.

What our survey suggests is that there is an enormous political vacuum
in the United States around economic resentment, and inevitably
something will fill it. The Democratic Party’s brand is tarnished,
perhaps beyond repair. If progressives don’t build something new,
the odds are high that Republicans like Steve Bannon, Josh Hawley, and
J. D. Vance will find ways to offer enough for Republicans to continue
to win elections behind a platform that favors deregulation, rolling
back health, safety, and environmental protections, all while
rewarding workers on the margins.

Progressives can use independent politics to tap into the economic
populist energy that Democrats have consistently squandered. And they
should understand that what voters say they want is not just some
mirage nor is it manipulative polling. It’s concrete economic
proposals.

The question is not whether this energy exists, but how to build a
political force capable of channeling it. Working people and their
allies need a political home — one that fights for job security,
decent wages, and universal health care, while speaking credibly to
the economic frustrations the Democratic Party has too often failed to
address.

Building this kind of movement requires a foundation: an anchor like a
major labor union or coalition of unions that can back progressive
economic ballot initiatives and support independent candidates —
especially in one-party districts where the spoiler argument doesn’t
apply. The build-out can and should be modest at first, with room to
experiment and adapt. With success, it can grow.

Dan Osborn, a union leader in Nebraska, showed what’s possible.
Running as an independent in a race where Democrats didn’t field a
candidate, he campaigned on a populist economic message and came
within 6.7 percent of unseating a Republican senator — drawing
66,500 more votes than Kamala Harris did in the same state. That kind
of campaign speaks to the potential of tapping into disaffection with
both major parties.

Instead of rehashing reasons why we can’t build outside the
Democratic Party, it’s time to help working-class voters get what
they actually want: candidates who represent their interests and are
free from corporate and billionaire influence. Yes, this will be hard.
And no, it won’t happen overnight. But that’s not an argument for
waiting. It’s a reason to get started now.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans truly fight for working people —
working people deserve a political formation that puts their interests
first.

* Independent Politics
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* Labor Party
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