What’s not the matter with Kansas? Maybe we’re not voting against our own interests.
Do people vote against their self-interest?
For example, there are LGBTQ Americans who vote Republican, despite the party’s track record of unfavorable policies toward the LGBTQ community.
Similarly, affluent Americans back President Joe Biden, even though his tax policies target high-income households.
And despite former President Donald Trump’s persistent attacks on migrants, and support for harsh immigration policies, many Latinos support him.
Writing after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, Kansas native Thomas Frank claimed in his bestseller, “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” that the white working class were deceived into voting against their economic interests.
Republicans convinced them that a liberal, coastal, urban elite threatened traditional American values and it was the responsibility of heartland farmers, factory workers, and waitresses to protect those values.
And so, they voted Republican.
But according to Frank, traditional values were a ploy.
Republicans, after all, represented big business and the wealthy.
What the working class received for their support was lower wages, tax cuts for the rich, business deregulation and sustained attacks on labor unions.
Frank did not hold back:
“Strip today’s Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they’re protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there’s a good chance they’ll join the John Birch Society.”
As it turned out, Frank was wrong.
Systematic research showed the working class was not tricked.
Economic issues, compared to traditional values, were the main drivers of their vote.
Moreover, the working class are not the only group to switch party allegiances — affluent voters have as well.
In 1996, the highest income voters went for Republican Bob Dole by 16 points. But that margin completely disappeared by 2020, when Biden split the wealthy vote evenly with Trump.
This change impacted Kansas.
In 1996, Johnson County went for Dole by 22 points. In 2020, Biden won by eight points, flipping Kansas’s wealthiest county for the first time in decades.
Does this mean Democrats hoodwinked affluent Johnson County voters into acting against their material interests?
Of course not.
Wealthy Americans who support Democrats may do so because they believe in the values championed by the party — protecting the environment, universal health care, and a larger role for government in fighting racial and economic inequalities.
Similarly, LGBTQ and Latino Americans who cast their votes for Republicans may do so because they identify with the values the party upholds — limited government, strong national defense, free markets and lower taxes.
All of this serves as a reminder that self-interest manifests in countless ways and its interpretation is entirely subjective.
Voters prioritize certain interests over others. It’s ultimately a personal matter.
The strength of democracy lies in the freedom of voters to choose candidates who align with their self-interests.
But when doubts are raised about what in fact those interests are, and the political choices that arise from them, democracy suffers.
Mark R. Joslyn is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
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