Working-class whites deserted Bernie Sanders in the Midwest

IN 1987, WHILE he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders released an album of folk songs and poetry entitled “We Shall Overcome”. The record included anthems of Americana such as “This Land Is Your Land”, as well as civil-rights ballads like “Oh Freedom”. It became popular among Mr Sanders’s supporters during the 2016 Democratic primaries, embodying his long-standing devotion to progressive ideas about race and civil rights, along with his vintage lefty beliefs about the state’s responsibility to create equality. (His singing abilities were probably less of a factor in the album’s success.)