I’d tend to agree based on my memories of the 70s, specifically of when the main employer in the city shut down and put half the male breadwinners out of work. The local Catholic churches ended up doing much more for affected families than the unions and certainly more than the local/state Democrats who were in charge at the time. As I’m told by family members this ended up pushing lots of people away from voting Democrat.
Lots of the people I keep in touch with back in the US (various ethnic groups, age ranges 30s-50s, earning ranges from “1 paycheck from the streets” to “doing decently”) specifically commented about how they do in fact feel alienated from the Democratic party. The reasons vary but one common thread seems to be something to the effect of “I’ve got no idea what they are about any more”.
My relatives like that either served themselves or are related by blood or marriage to someone who served. One other factor of some I know back in the US is people whose jobs are pretty directly related to a military base and the impression is that the Democrats are always in favor of base closures, thus directly impacting their livelihoods.
The idea that the decline of unions in the US is somehow the fault of corporate interests pretty well ignores the fact that lots of working people got sick of the corruption of the unions themselves and the inability of unions to do much for the working people to begin with after the 70s.
