唐纳德·特朗普总统将自己的政治生涯建立在“懂蓝领心声”的基础上，不仅赢得了大多数没有四年制大学学历的白人选民，还赢得了大量蓝领拉美裔和黑人选民的支持。尽管民调显示，特朗普的共和党在中期选举中几乎没有机会复制他的成功，但这并未平息民主党内部关于如何“比懂蓝领心声的人更懂蓝领心声”的辩论。
President Donald Trump built his political career on being a working-class whisperer, winning over not only most White voters without four-year college degrees, but significant numbers of blue-collar Latino and Black voters as well. While polls indicate Trump’s Republicans don’t stand a chance of replicating his success in the midterms, this hasn’t quieted the debate among Democrats over how best to out-whisper the whisperer.
一个以受过高等教育的精英著称的政党，要赢回蓝领选民需要什么？更重要的是，要留住他们需要什么？当涉及到有色人种选民时，这些问题显得尤为重要，因为他们在快速增长的阳光地带各州的蓝领阶层中占主导地位，而这些州未来多年可能决定全国大选的胜负。
What will it take for a party known for college-educated elites to win back working-class voters? And more importantly, what will it take to keep them? These are especially important questions when it comes to voters of color, who dominate the ranks of the working class in the fast-growing Sun Belt states that could decide national elections for years to come.
寻找答案，民主党明智的做法是密切关注内华达州竞争激烈的州长选举。如果这个摇摆州的民主党籍州检察长亚伦·福特下周击败共和党现任州长乔·隆巴多，福特的竞选活动可能成为如何将蓝领有色人种选民、特别是拉美裔选民重新拉回阵营的范例。
For answers, Democrats would be wise to keep an eye on the hotly contested gubernatorial race in Nevada. If the swing state’s Democratic attorney general, Aaron Ford, manages to beat Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo next week, Ford’s campaign could serve as a model for how to bring working-class voters of color, particularly Latinos, back into the fold.
现年54岁的福特是黑人，会说西班牙语，在贫困中长大。他花费了大量竞选精力，直接争取为内华达州博彩和酒店业（进而推动该州经济）提供动力的工会成员的支持。
Ford — who is Black, speaks Spanish and grew up in poverty — has spent much of his campaign making direct appeals to the union members who power Nevada’s gambling and hospitality industries, and by extension, its economy. The 54-year-old has walked picket lines and worked alongside line cooks at restaurants.
他走过纠察线，在餐厅与一线厨师并肩工作。他谈论自己少年时与法律的冲突，以及作为家族中第一个大学毕业的人的经历。他年轻时就已为人父母，一度依靠食品券和医疗补助生活，住过第八节廉租房。
He talks about his run-ins with the law as a teenager, and about being the first in his family to graduate from college. He did so as a young parent, at one point relying on food stamps and Medicaid and living in Section 8 housing. Ford is clearly trying to present himself as relatable.
福特显然试图展现一个亲切可感的形象：一个拥有多个学位，却依然理解买不起食品杂货或付不起房租是什么滋味的人。
A man with multiple degrees, but who still understands what it’s like to be too broke to afford groceries or the rent.
“正如你们努力工作一样，我也在努力争取留任这一职位，以便能帮助你们，”他在拉斯维加斯郊区的罢工纠察线上对卡车司机工会成员说道。有说服力吗？对工会领导人来说，是的。
“As hard as you’re working, I’m working to try to ensure that I can be in this office to help you as well,” he told Teamsters union members on a picket line in suburban Las Vegas. Convincing? To labor leaders, yes.
鉴于福德竞选承诺废除内华达州的“工作权利法”并扩大学徒计划，他获得了长长的工会和行业协会背书名单，这和大多数在内华达州参选的民主党人一样。但这并不保证基层成员会投他的票。
Given Ford’s campaign promises to repeal Nevada’s right-to-work law and expand apprenticeship programs, he has scored endorsements from a long list of unions and trade associations, as most Democrats running in Nevada do. But there’s no guarantee rank-and-file members will vote for him.
例如在2024年，实力强大的烹饪工会背书时任副总统卡马拉·哈里斯竞选总统。但特朗普成为二十年来首位在该州获胜的共和党总统候选人，无疑得到了其部分成员的支持。这是一个迹象，表明长期以来推动民主党在内华达州获胜的机器政治的力量或许正在衰退。
In 2024, for example, the powerful Culinary Union endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris for president. But Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to flip the state in two decades, undoubtedly with support from some of its members. It was a sign of the perhaps waning power of the machine politics that have powered Democratic victories in Nevada for so long.
特朗普凭借降低生活成本、改善经济的宏大承诺，赢得了工薪阶层选民——其中许多是拉丁裔——的支持，而该州仍在从疫情中复苏。然而，自他上任以来的政策——在各级政府共和党人的全盘照单全收下——在很大程度上产生了相反的效果。
Trump won over working-class voters, many of them Latino, with big promises to lower the cost of living and improve the economy in a state still recovering from the pandemic. However, his policies since taking office — rubber-stamped by Republicans at all levels of government — have largely accomplished the opposite.
关税激怒了加拿大人，导致他们取消了前往拉斯维加斯的惯常行程，给内华达州的酒店和赌场造成打击。移民突袭让酒店业工人感到不安，并使得在住房短缺的该州更难找到建筑工人。而伊朗战争推高了通胀和汽油价格。
Tariffs have prompted angry Canadians to skip their usual trips to Las Vegas, dealing a blow to Nevada’s hotels and casinos. Immigration raids have unnerved hospitality workers and made it harder to find workers to build housing in a state with a shortage of it. And the war in Iran has driven up inflation and gas prices.
难怪只有约四分之一自认为属于“工薪阶层”的美国人——这无疑是一个模糊的范畴——相信承诺帮助他们的政客真的会兑现。在对政府日益幻灭的一个迹象中，超过半数——根据近期民调为55%——认为两党政客做出此类承诺只是为了赢得选举。
It’s no wonder only about a quarter of Americans who identify as “working class” — an admittedly squishy category — believe that politicians who promise to help them actually will. In a sign of increasing disillusionment with government, more than half — 55%, according to recent polling — believe politicians of both parties only make such promises to win elections.
特朗普因违背承诺，无疑只会强化内华达州选民的此类看法。这让隆巴多陷入了为其政治生存而战的境地——他曾出席特朗普的集会，并凭借改善经济的承诺在2022年击败了一位民主党籍现任州长。
Trump, through his broken promises, has surely only reinforced such beliefs among voters in Nevada. This has left Lombardo, who has appeared at rallies with Trump and beat a Democratic incumbent in 2022 with promises to improve the economy, fighting for his political life.
作为一名温和派共和党人和前警长，隆巴多近几个月来试图淡化他与特朗普的关系。相反，他试图将重点放在公共安全、教育、住房和就业上。正如预期的那样，福特并没有让他轻松做到这一点。
A moderate Republican and a former sheriff, Lombardo has tried to downplay his ties to Trump in recent months. Instead, he has tried to focus on public safety, education, housing and jobs. Predictably, Ford has not made that easy.
“谁也骗不了，”他最近对《纽约时报》表示。“他在整个任期内一直是唐纳德·特朗普的踏脚石。”结果是，库克政治报告将这场竞选评为“势均力敌”。但提前投票已显现出“蓝色浪潮”的迹象，民主党选民大量涌现。
“No one’s fooled,” he recently told the New York Times. “He’s been a doormat for Donald Trump his entire tenure.”The result has been a race that Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up. But early voting is already showing signs of a “blue wave,” with Democrats turning out in big numbers.
不过，在内华达州获胜从来都不简单，也难以预测。该州拥有美国最多元化的工薪阶层选民群体之一。尽管内华达州被选为民主党总统提名程序中的第二个初选州，但独立选民人数却多于民主党人和共和党人，这使得说服选民比党派忠诚度更为重要。
Winning in Nevada has never been simple or predictable, though. The state has a working-class electorate that is among the most diverse in the US. And even though Nevada was selected to go second in Democrats’ presidential nominating process, independent voters outnumber both Democrats and Republicans, making persuasion more important than partisanship.
如果福特能为这种情况创造出一个成功的竞选模式，他可能会成为新的“工薪阶层代言人”。
If Ford creates a successful campaign model for that, he might be the new working-class whisperer.