In American politics, “elite” is a four-letter word.
For years, Democrats have been derided as the “liberal elite.” That caricature began to look more like reality as the party lost working-class voters and gained wealthier and better educated ones. And strategists struggled to turn the insult back on President Trump, who has maintained a cultural connection to the working class despite his status as a wealthy owner of golf courses and gilded clubs.
The dynamic might be shifting.
Deep in the data from The Times’s and Siena University’s national poll this week is a figure that I found quite striking: Voters are now more likely to see Republicans than Democrats as “elitist.”
Tonight, we’re going to zoom in on that finding, which comes as shifting voter perceptions — and unease about the economy — force Republicans to confront the possibility of broader problems with the coalition that carried Trump to victory.
The numbers
When our pollsters asked likely voters which party they think the word “elitist” describes, 43 percent of them said Republicans and 33 percent said Democrats.
The Times’s polling editor, Ruth Igielnik, told me that we asked the same question in 2022. Back then, Republicans and Democrats were about tied — 35 percent for Democrats, 36 percent for Republicans — so the new figures, Ruth said, represent a notable shift.
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The bump was driven in part by independent voters. In 2022, 36 percent of independents described Republicans as the more elitist party. This year, that figure was 45 percent.
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In the latest poll, men were about evenly split on the party they viewed as most elitist, but women chose Republicans by a 20-point margin.
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Every age group was more likely to identify Republicans as “elitist,” although it was 18- to 29-year-olds who did so most decisively: 59 percent to 27 percent.
The voters
Yesterday, my colleague Sophia June and I called up some of these voters. We wanted to talk with independents — and we were especially interested to speak with those who had supported Trump in 2024 but now viewed Republicans as the more elitist party.
Interestingly, none of the voters we spoke with brought up the projects Democrats have seized on to paint Trump as out of touch, like his White House ballroom or his penchant for gilding the Oval Office. They described something broader: a Republican Party that, they felt, had stopped looking out for everybody.
“That’s what Trump’s doing to America now: The people that are ‘in with him,’ who look or act a certain way, are the ones that are gonna be given an opportunity,” Lauren Wilson, 40, of Cranford, N.J., said. Wilson, a stay-at-home parent who backed Trump in 2024, said she’s planning to vote for Democrats in November.
Rebecca Schneider-Kaplan, an educator who lives in Staten Island, said she voted for Trump in the last election but soured on him because he viewed himself as “untouchable,” insulated from consequences the rest of us might face if we posted impulsively on social media or, you know, suddenly tried to rename a lake.
“He thinks he’s above everything,” Schneider-Kaplan said.
Jesus Estrada, 21, who lives in Pasadena, Texas, and works in a fabrication plant, brought up Trump’s taxes. “Donald Trump basically had to pay almost nothing,” said Estrada, who did not vote in 2024. He added, “Elitist is the word I use for the 1 percent because they’re doing loopholes for taxes.”
And Jerry Jacob, 37, told me that, these days, Republicans seem to be “in their own world.” He recalled their vaunted tax cut bill, which showered benefits on the highest earners, as evidence of a fundamental disconnect.
“When they’re asked questions about how the American public is doing, they give these answers like, ‘Everything is fine,’ when people are struggling,” Jacob said.
Jacob said he voted for Trump in 2024, Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016. I told him I might have to call him back in 2028.
Catch Me Up
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Trump said this afternoon that he plans to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House for reporting “fake news.”
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A watchdog group says Trump’s oversight of a $400 million super PAC — which he calls “my money that I control” — violates federal law. But the complaint is unlikely to change anything: The F.E.C., which regulates campaign finance, doesn’t even have enough confirmed members to meet.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is spending $300,000 to help boost Democrats in New York, Shane Goldmacher reported today. I found it especially interesting that the money is intended for organizing rather than advertising.
quote of the day
“The robots will not be taking over.”
That was President Trump. He has publicly downplayed fears of an A.I. doomsday as a “hoax.” The Times reported today that his bullishness on A.I. is rooted in his concern that an A.I. slowdown could harm the economy. Some of his aides, though, are worried about the dangers of rogue A.I. agents.
MAGA beef
Some Republican candidates are subtly backing away from the Trump administration. The Times’s Bayliss Wagner sent us this update from Iowa.
When Vice President JD Vance rallied for Republicans in Council Bluffs, Iowa, today, one very important Iowa Republican was absent: Ashley Hinson, the party’s nominee in a closer-than-expected Senate race.
Hinson said last September that she wanted to be “Trump’s top ally in the United States Senate.” But she has since distanced herself from his administration as Iowans fume over high fuel, grocery and fertilizer prices. (Last month, she went on Fox News to implore Trump not to cut tariffs on foreign ground beef, saying it would hurt struggling cattle ranchers.)
The pivot reflects the difficult headwinds that Hinson, a congresswoman and former TV news anchor, faces as she tries to keep the seat red. Read my profile here.
Related: Representative María Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican, released a television ad yesterday criticizing Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Hitting the Road
Want to know where the parties’ attention is focused in these final weeks before Election Day? Look where some of their biggest names are traveling in the coming days:
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Kamala Harris is scheduled to appear in Michigan early next week to campaign with Abdul El-Sayed, Democrats’ progressive Senate nominee. El-Sayed needs support from moderates if he hopes to win in purple Michigan.
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Pete Buttigieg is traveling to San Antonio for a rally with Katy Padilla Stout, the Democratic House candidate in Texas’ 23rd District. Trump won the district by 15 points in 2024. But the Republican candidate there, Brandon Herrera, has come under fire for past Nazi jokes and vulgar comments about women.
Photo of the Week
The fate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington got even murkier this week, as the center’s Trump-allied board abruptly shuttered the building after a judge said the president could not put his name on its facade.
The photo above, captured on Wednesday by The Times’s Kenny Holston, suggested one possible outcome: Through the windows of Air Force One, Trump, in his trademark red hat, can be seen reviewing a poster board with the words: “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”
Does that mean Trump plans to tear down the Kennedy Center? The White House has refused to answer questions about it.
ONE LAST THING
Happy birthday, NYT
On Sept. 18, 1851 — 175 years ago today — The New York Times published its first issue. That edition, which was put together by candlelight, was four pages long and cost a penny.
Times journalists are revisiting remarkable moments from the paper’s early days. Read the story of Samuel Wilkeson Jr., our reporter at the Battle of Gettysburg, who happened upon the body of his own son on the battlefield and wrote, “My pen is heavy.”
For more: Can you guess what classic band our critic called “hoarsely incoherent?” Or which iconic headline editors of the past felt warranted an exclamation point? Take our quiz on Times history.
Sophia June and Taylor Robinson contributed reporting.
The post Republicans Are Now the ‘Elitist’ Party, Voters Say appeared first on New York Times.
