White working-class voters are turning on Donald Trump.
In 2024, 66 percent of the demographic voted for Trump, who pledged to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States by using tariffs and stopping jobs from moving overseas. He rejected what he described as the damaging effects of globalization on American workers, declaring in his victory speech that “the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”
But the data tells a different story: as of December 2025, manufacturing employment was down by 65,000 jobs compared with when he was inaugurated for his second term in January 2025.
As a result, polls now show Trump’s key voting group swinging away from him.
A CBS News poll conducted this month shows that disapproval of Trump’s job performance among white voters without a college degree has climbed to 54 percent, up sharply from 32 percent in February 2025 and 45 percent in February this year.
The same poll found that white non-college-educated voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy by 22 percentage points.
According to AAA, the national average price for regular gasoline has climbed above $4.50 a gallon, topping $5 in seven states, following Trump’s decision to wage war in Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Although Trump has brushed aside fears over rising prices—saying the rise in cost was “peanuts” in comparison to the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon—they are clearly having an impact on voters, especially working-class Americans in key battleground states like Ohio, which Trump won by 11 points in 2024.
Austin Keyser, a leader with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Ohio, told the Washington Post he hears from other union officials about meetings where members express second thoughts about supporting Trump, pointing to frustration over higher prices and delays or setbacks in projects they are working on.
Peggy Liff, a 57-year-old welder who has voted for Trump three times, recalled a time she felt more financially secure under his first term, saying she once had “money in the bank.”
“Prices were down,” she said. “Gas was low.” Now, she said, that situation has changed. “He’s concentrating on other things, like overseas, Iran,” she said of Trump. “He says he’s doing it for us, but I don’t see where that’s happening.”
Meanwhile, Annette Dombrowksi, a 64-year-old factory janitor in Ohio who also voted for Trump, expressed deep frustration with the broader political landscape, saying, “I don’t even want to vote for anybody in the next election. I don’t care, because they’re all c---.”
“The working class voters are abandoning Donald Trump,” CNN data expert Harry Enten said, adding, “Those who have put him over the top in 2024 are saying, You know what? Not for me right now.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle The Daily Beast: “The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.
“No other President in history has accomplished more for the American people than President Trump, who is working tirelessly to create jobs, cool inflation, increase housing affordability, and more. The President has already made historic progress not only in America but around the world, and this is just the beginning as his agenda continues taking effect.”
