The election of Donald Trump, and the Brexit vote in the UK, have both been widely interpreted as a revolt of the economically ‘left behind’: a protest by working class voters at the impact of globalisation on their jobs and living standards. In neither case is this the whole explanation: in both the UK and US, plenty of people on higher incomes and in wealthy areas voted for the insurgent movement. But there can be little doubt that in Michigan and Merthr Tydfil, South Carolina and Sunderland, the disaffection of people on below-average incomes drove the outcome. more
