At last week’s State of the Union address, President Biden continued efforts made by Democrats in recent years to position the Democratic Party as the Party of the working class, taking on the rich and corporations. “Look, I’m a capitalist,” Biden remarked. “If you want to make or can make a million or millions of bucks, that’s great. Just pay your fair share in taxes.”

Taking on the wealthy represents a pivot from the era of Bill Clinton Democrats, whose Clinton ads of the day now sound more like modern Republicans. Clinton told viewers in a televised ad during his first bid for office, “Our government has failed us. And one of its worst failures has been welfare. I have a plan to end welfare as we know it.”

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has been on the forefront of pushing Democrats to the modern “Eat the Rich” Party brand. But despite Biden and Warren’s confidence in their appeal to middle class voters, online discussions surrounding Warren’s rhetoric on raising taxes does not just land on deaf ears, it enrages distrustful Americans who increasingly believe Democrats are the party of the elites.

What They’re Saying

Normally, Warren’s tweets garner around a hundred responses, but Warren’s tweet praising efforts to unleash the IRS on the “Ultra Rich” earned more than 5,000 responses. 

MIG Reports’ analysis of responses to the tweet uncovered a combination of distrust and mockery. People expressed a “perception of hypocrisy,” with a number of users criticizing Warren for her personal wealth, suggesting she should be taxed more heavily or accusing her of not paying her fair share.

The theme of distrust and of hypocrisy extended beyond Warren, with many responses to Warren’s tweet lowering Warren's sentiment by associating her with other controversial figures such as Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. This discourse highlighted how the President’s own son pleaded guilty to tax evasion.

Others responding to the Massachusetts Senator’s tweet asserted that the level of tax revenue is not the problem, but government spending. Voters mentioned Warren “arguing that the focus should be on reducing spending rather than increasing taxes.” 

By the Numbers

Since Warren’s comments on raising taxes, MIG Reports finds a serious blow to her approval among those discussing her online. Warren tends to hover below 250 mentions online. This earns her a near neutral approval rating on days when she has low online discussion volume.

• On the day Warren tweeted calling for higher taxes, her mentions doubled their usual rate, and her approval rating fell.
• On March 10th, Warren's approval rating was 47%. The day of her tax comments, approval tumbled to 43% and fell to 41% by March 12th.

It’s clear there is a direct correlation between Warren’s tax-the-rich rhetoric and her drop in approval. Warren’s ratio of positive to negative comments in discussions involving economics showed a ratio of 25 positive percentage points to 85 negative percentage points.

A Historic Shift

Perhaps the best explanation for why efforts from Democrats like Warren and Biden increasingly fall on deaf ears is found in the partisan wealth divide in elections. In 2016, Pew Research found that, “Although many middle-class areas voted for Barack Obama in 2008, they overwhelmingly favored Donald Trump in 2016.”

This trend has continued since Trump’s rise in politics. Axios reported that, “64% of congressional districts with median incomes below the national median are now represented by Republicans.” Moreover, despite regularly labeling Republicans as the “Party of the Rich,” Democrats represent nine of the 10 richest Congressional Districts in America.

It's easy to understand why middle-class Americans simply don’t trust Democrats to hold elites accountable. Americans see politicians as part of the elite. Households across America are united in banning members of Congress from stock trading. Yet Democrat legislators continue to utilize insider information to make suspiciously successful stock trades, earning millions in a profession that pays $174,000 a year.

President Biden’s efforts to hold tax cheats accountable falls flat with Americans who have been following Hunter’s tax evasion charges. Rhetoric from Democrat politicians about taking on the rich or fixing the financial system doesn’t seem to be convincing working-class Americans to forget that Democrats are often among the "Ultra-Rich” they decry.

To many Americans, Democrats both act and speak like the elite class they claim to hold accountable. Online discussions suggest middle-class Americans can hardly distinguish DNC talking points from the elites they felt mocked them for not being able to “just work from home” during COVID. Many normal Americans feel attacked when the rich, politicians, or media commentators tell them to simply buy a $50,000 electric car to save the planet. Republicans will likely continue to win middle class America, a crucial segment of the electorate, if Democrats continue to act and talk like the people Americans feel detest them.