I spent one year interviewing working-class Americans across the country from every political persuasion for my new book, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women, and what I found was a remarkable consensus on the issues. 

They want higher wages. They want better healthcare—or really, just affordable healthcare. They want fewer migrants competing for their jobs, and they want trade policy that favors America. They want stable jobs that reward their immense efforts with the hallmarks of a middle-class life that so many in the top income brackets take for granted: a home. A vacation with their kids every now and then. Enough in the bank so they don’t have to call the electric company every month to beg forbearance to keep the lights on. Some money to put away for retirement for when their aching bones can no longer perform physical labor.