No matter where we look: Religious identity, racial and cultural resentment, attitudes towards the religious/racial/cultural pluralization of American society are dividing the country - and shaping the political conflict- much more strongly than education polarization.

Yes, Trump dominates among the *white* working class (if defined as people without a college degree). But even here, religion played a key role: In 2024, about 86 percent of non-college white evangelicals voted for Trump – vs. only a minority of the non-evangelical white working class.

The tribune of the poor, the downtrodden? Studies clearly indicate that Trump’s most ardent supporters, especially in poorer areas, are, by local standards, quite wealthy / financially stable. Economic anxieties are mostly downstream from anxieties over racial and cultural status.

Trump does not represent the “will of the people” – a stable majority of Americans, including about two thirds of those who call themselves independents, reject core tenets of Trumpism. It is the Republican Party that is moving away from the center of American society.