Democrats beat the historic odds in the midterm elections by avoiding the kind of major losses usually experienced by the governing party two years into a presidential term, but they still need to address a major vulnerability: the defection of working-class voters.

I had lunch with a former Democratic congressman from Washington the other day. He told me things have only gotten worse for Democrats among the working-class voters in his old district, compared to when he was in office. Where once in smaller towns and exurban areas Democrats were greeted with vague suspicion, there is now outright hostility, he said.

Workers in factories and farms once were the core of the Democratic Party coalition. Now, the populist conservatism of former President Donald Trump and his emulators in the Republican Party, reinforced by talk radio and Fox News propaganda, has lured away working-class voters – particularly men without college degrees. They have been led to believe that Democrats are a pack of over-educated urban elitists who look down on them and want to turn the country into a perverted, godless, socialist hell hole where boys want to be girls, girls want to be boys and jobs all flow to Tesla-owning tech geeks on the two coasts.

It is a masterful con job. Republicans and GOP presidents have long catered to the interests of wealthy people, big corporations and Wall Street while generally opposing legislation that would help working-class families. During his four years in the White House, Trump was no different. And yet, Trump and millionaire bloviators in the right-wing media have successfully sold the fiction that Republicans are the champions of working men and women.

Meanwhile, Democrats have been engaged in efforts to protect the environment, mend the social safety net, undo structural racism and rein in the dangerous excesses of the financial industry – all crucially important goals. But these efforts – too frequently framed in the formulaic rhetoric of the left — have often put them at odds with workers in traditional industries who fear they will be locked out of the new economy with its green jobs, government rules and sensitivity to the needs of non-white citizens. There are good arguments to be made about why these changes will help everyone, but Democrats have not figured out how to make their case to the guys in hard hats and farmers’ caps. With rare exceptions – such as Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Pennsylvania’s governor-elect, Josh Shapiro – they have barely tried. It will take a monumental outreach effort to regain the trust of working-class voters, but that effort is necessary if Democrats want to break out of the 50/50 divide that currently makes every competitive election a cliffhanger.

See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey

View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons

Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.