Americans want a leftist government. We just don't vote that way. | Opinion
Too many of us vote against our economic interests. But what if we decide to do something different?
Anti-establishment voters elected Donald Trump for president. They believed he would rebel and break apart the elite network of political insiders and Washington institutions that were out of touch with the average American. Data shows that distrust in our government was a primary driver of Trump’s 2016 primary win. Again in 2024, Trump voters were still disillusioned.
Leftists also oppose the status quo. In these ways and more, it turns out we all want and need a leftist government. And rightfully so.
We have a humongous and growing wealth gap, which the majority of us oppose. The top 10% of households own 67% of household wealth, while the bottom 50% own only 2.5%.
The majority of us are not political insiders nor financial elite. And we are wary of them. The majority of us, 58%, believe that billionaires accelerate inflation and 2 in 3 Americans say the tax system is unfair.
The landmark proposal gaining steam in California for a one-time tax on billionaires shows there’s some movement to align our tax systems with voters’ values, but the pushback is as strong as the momentum.
As ever, we continually underestimate inequality, both the wealth and income of the ultrawealthy.
Median income in America is far below the Top 1%
Median personal income based on return data from 2023 was $45,140; the threshold to be in the top 1% was $700,000.
The minimum net worth of the top 1% of households is $13.7 million. In 2024, the median net worth in America is 110 times less at $124,041.
Meanwhile, total billionaire wealth increased 160% from 2017-25. American billionaires' net worth is $7.6 trillion, an estimated $4.2 trillion of which has never been taxed.
The wealthiest 10% of us own 93% of corporate stock. Our worlds are different. We have always been fighting over crumbs. They have divided us, and their ability to do so is how they win and how we lose.
And the stakes are high. We continue to kill children, succumb to overwork and physical decay. Environmental crimes continue. Whether we will destroy our viability on Earth is an ongoing question. Wealth inequality and the disproportionality or over-pollution of the elite drive climate destabilization.
Our economic interests unite us far more than they divide us
To be sure, popular rhetoric will have us believe that fighting each other will gain more traction for change than ousting a legacy government. Too many of us vote against our economic interests. But what if we decide to do something different?
Polling shows we agree on core values. After all, most of us want (and all of us need) access to clean water and clean air to survive. We want future generations to be able to thrive. Sixty-two percent of us agree that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to ensure health care coverage.
And we are still united in our deep distrust of our government, with only 1 in 10 of us thinking the government represents us well.
When it comes to our thoughts on billionaires, we are more unified than those at the top would have us believe. Seventy-three percent of us wish billionaires played a smaller role in politics, 71% of us think billionaires should give back more to society, and 58% feel billionaires are becoming more like dictators. Most of us want to increase taxes on the rich.
As a sociology graduate student, my eyes widened when I read in a course book that when it comes to our political-economic system, both sides of the aisle, the Republicans and the Democrats, are on the side of the economic elite.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We still have the vote, and we don’t have to use it to empower people who share the bottom-line goal of protecting the interests of the ultrawealthy above the interests of the rest of us.
We could stop voting against our economic interests. Instead, we can elect those who will build a socially and environmentally sustainable society. It is time to recognize our leftist hearts and align our values – and our votes – with our shared political interests.
Megan Thiele Strong, a sociology professor at San José State University, is a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.