Their children go to elite schools, such as Sidwell Friends in Washington DC – a very selective private school that has been attended by the offspring of prominent journalists, political officials and politicians, including both the Obamas and the Clintons. Geographically isolated from most of their fellow citizens, the rich then go on to live lives that are largely separated from them as well. And as the gap has widened, the rich have put more distance between themselves and everyone else, both figuratively and literally.įor instance, wealthy Americans tend to be cloistered in a small number of coastal enclaves, such as certain affluent neighborhoods in and around New York City, Washington DC and San Francisco. In other words, the gap between the rich and the poor has gotten wider and wider, while more and more Americans have been pushed to opposite sides of it. Meanwhile, the middle class’s share of all income earned in the United States plummeted from 62 percent to 34 percent, while wealthy Americans’ share shot up from 29 percent to nearly 50 percent, significantly increasing their absolute wealth in the process. As these statistics demonstrate, there’s been a significant reduction in both the relative size and economic power of the American middle class over the past four decades.įrom 1970 to 2015, the percentage of Americans who were in the middle class fell from over 60 percent to under 50 percent of the adult population. To see that decline, you just have to look at a few statistics. That context can be boiled down to a single phrase: the decline of the American middle class.
To understand Donald Trump’s ascendency to the White House, you first need to understand the historical context in which it took place.
In the aftermath of Trump’s unexpected victory, these were the questions raised by many commentators, political scientists and everyday citizens alike. How and why did Donald Trump win the US presidential election of 2016? What motivated so many Americans to vote for him?
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