Democrats' New Agenda Is to Aid the Affluent

As Joe Biden prepares to take office as president, the Democratic Party is pushing for an economic agenda that reflects the priorities of its new coalition: one that has more college degrees, and higher incomes, than past ones.

Based on the latest estimates, Biden got almost exactly the same percentage of votes for president that Barack Obama got in 2012. But the composition of the Democratic coalition changed. While a majority of college graduates voted against Obama’s re-election, Biden seems to have won a majority. Biden also expanded Obama’s majority among holders of postgraduate degrees. The Democrats have moved higher on the income scale, too. They had a big majority among voters making less than $50,000 a year in 2012, but a smaller one this year. They made up for those losses among higher-earners.