The interesting thing is how Donald Trump convinced many Americans who recognize that there are 'two Americas' to support him.
This isn't really a surprise based on what Lyndon Johnson said, however, there will continue to be 'two Americas' as long as that's the case.
Lyndon Johnson
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
This isn't really a surprise based on what Lyndon Johnson said, however, there will continue to be 'two Americas' as long as that's the case.
Lyndon Johnson
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
Trump didn't neccsarily win more working class white voters though. https://as.vanderbilt.edu/news/2020/07/29/political-science-research-debunks-myths-about-white-working-class-support-for-trump/
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/unity/2021/04/15/trump-didnt-bring-white-working-class-voters-to-the-republican-party-he-kept-them-away/
" That is, until 2020. Last year's data suggest that after Trump's term in office, the rate of white working-class support for the Republican presidential candidate fell for the first time since 2008 - and possibly even earlier, depending on which data source we use. Trump's presidency actually reversed the long-term trend of growing GOP support within this voting bloc."
What terrible scholarship. In every place with a high proportion of working-class Whites, Trump gained massively over Romney. Ohio swung 10 points, Michigan swung 10 points, Wisconsin swung 7 points! There had been a broad, longer term trend to the GOP, but Trump accentuated it. The paper clearly was looking for the conclusion that Trump didn't gain especially with these groups, but it's the obvious story of the 2016 election. The authors claim they can't make clear conclusions from small sample sizes, ignoring the irrefutable election results.