More Republicans are coming to the view that economic inequality, or a lack of social mobility, is a problem in the United States — and that more can be done to enable families to attain or regain a middle-class life.
About four in 10 Republican or Republican-leaning adults think there is too much economic inequality in the country. And among Republicans making less than about $40,000 a year who see too much economic inequality, 63 percent agree that the economic system “requires major changes” to address it.
But a growing debate among conservative thinkers, politicians, and the party base reveals a group divided about how, in practice, to address pocketbook issues and the extent to which the government should be involved.
“I don’t think just having a bigger government is a solution to a lot of these problems,” said Inez Stepman, a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum and a fellow with the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank.
These ideological stirrings have picked up as both whites without college degrees and the broader working class have grown as a share of Republican voters. A notable swipe against longtime Republican economic thinking has come from Sohrab Ahmari, a conservative who served as an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal and the opinion editor of The New York Post. Mr. Ahmari recently endorsed a second term for Mr. Trump, but he has written that he is also “increasingly drawn to the economic policies of the left — figures like Senators Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.”
In their own ways, Republican presidential primary candidates are jostling for ways to validate the populist energy and financial unease that Mr. Trump tapped into. Some have set out economic goals that, according to many experts, are hard to square with their promises to reduce debt and taxes and make deep cuts to government programs — especially now that many Republicans have backed away from calls to cut entitlement benefits.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican presidential contender, has echoed complaints and economic goals often heard from the left. “We want to be a country where you can raise a family on one sole income,” he told the crowd.
“We cannot have policy that kowtows to the largest corporations and Wall Street at the expense of small businesses and average Americans,” he added. “There’s a difference between a free-market economy, which we want, and corporatism.”
Last year, Phil Gramm, a Republican who steered the passage of major tax cuts and deregulation during his time representing Texas in Congress, published a book with his fellow economists Robert Ekelund and John Early called “The Myth of American Inequality.” The book argues that inequality is not high and rising as “the mainstream” suggests.
He added: “You know, economists can debate all day long whether we’re better off, worse off overall or whatever. But when you factor in all the factors, I personally think things are fine.”
The most public face of the revisionist camp may be Oren Cass, an adviser to Mr. Romney’s 2012 campaign, who has become immersed in a collective project among some right-leaning thinkers to “rebuild capitalism.”
Mr. Cass and his allies want to use government spending and power to promote economic mobility with traditionalist goals in mind — like reducing the cost of living for the heads of married, two-parent households.
Many economists and political scientists contend that the ideological realignment on the right is overblown, confused with a broader, hard-to-quantify loyalty to Mr. Trump rather than an explicit ideology giving life to Trumpism.
“There is a very underserved part of the political spectrum that is genuinely left of center on economic issues, right of center on cultural issues,” said Inez Stepman, a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum.
Gabe Guidarini, president of the University of Dayton College Republicans, believes the party should take policy samples from Viktor Orban in Hungary to return the American dream. However, he is wary of achieving those goals by increasing taxes on the wealthy.
For now, all economic debates are “tangential,” said Saagar Enjeti, a conservative millennial. Republicans will mostly rally around what he believes will be Mr. Trump’s simple economic message: “Make America 2019 Again” — a time when unemployment, inflation, and mortgage rates were low and cultural conservatives were in the White House.
Perspective:
As conservatives tackle the issue of economic inequality, it is interesting to see a growing divide within the party on how to address the problem. While some conservatives believe in a smaller government and traditional economic policies, others are open to exploring more interventionist approaches. This shift in conservative thinking reflects the changing dynamics within the Republican Party, as concerns about social mobility and financial unease become more prevalent among Republican voters. It remains to be seen how these ideological debates will shape future policy decisions and the party’s overall direction.
