Yet another thread about working class whites

[All Along The Watchtower]

Basically-why is there such a fascination with working class white voters in American political discourse and discussions about demographics, particularly among people who are not exactly working class themselves?

Do they really vote against "their economic interest"? Assuming that they have many good reasons to vote for Democrats these days, assuming they all vote Republican, and assuming that "economic interest" is really that clear for working class voters in American politics, which have a rather...um....conservative (small C) bent to them?
 
More to the point, so what if many working class whites vote Republican? It's not as if either party needs them, even for vote counts (let alone for policy influence, which they have little influence in either party). Both parties are controlled by elites, just different kinds of elites, and the battles between those elites are a large part of the story of contemporary American electoral politics.