Even as the economic pressures that drove millions of white working-class voters to the right are moderating, the hostility this key segment of the electorate feels toward the Democratic Party has deepened and is less and less amenable to change. "You cannot really understand the working-class rightward shift without discussing what the Democratic Party is doing," Daron Acemoglu, an economist at M.I.T., wrote by email: Many of the trends that negatively impacted workers, especially non-college workers, including rapid automation and trade with China, were advocated and supported by Democratic politicians. Perhaps worse from a political point of view, when these politicians were advocating such policies, they were also viewed as adopting a tone of indifference to the plight of non-college workers. Poll data suggest that Democratic struggles with the white working class are worsening. In "Elections and Demography: Democrats Lose Ground, Need Strong Turnout," an Oct. 22 American Enterprise institute report by Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman and Nate Moore write: The gap between non-college and college whites continues to grow. For the first time this cycle, the difference in margin between the two has surpassed an astounding 40 points, well above the 33-point gap in 2020's presidential contest.