In light of the recent geo-economic shifts accelerated by the pandemic, global crises and conflicts, and the ongoing efforts to tackle the climate crisis, one group is facing particular challenges: The middle class in the former industrial heartlands across the US and Europe.

A week ago, Donald Trump moved into the White House for the second time, and the radical shift in US politics has already become abundantly clear. What factors drove voters in the industrial heartlands to lean Republican?

What do people in the industrial heartlands of the US Midwest actually think about politics? And what are the actual needs and concerns of these communities?

For a generation, people living in the traditional industrial heartlands all over the world have been buffeted by a technological and services revolution, the decline of manufacturing, and the rise of a borderless global digital economy. The result is deepening inequality, ongoing political support for right-wing populists and a hollowing out of the middle class. The Transatlantic Dialogue on the Industrial Heartlands: Shaping the Future project and its partners from the US and Germany are dedicated to creating new opportunities in old industrial heartlands in both countries by exchanging best practices and developing political strategies and policy solutions for a better, greener and more democratic future in the “places that don’t matter”. The main goal is to deliver increased living standards and opportunities, while also working towards rebuilding trust in democracy in the US and Germany.

For a generation, people living in the traditional industrial heartlands all over the world have been buffeted by a technological and services revolution, the decline of manufacturing, and the rise of a borderless global digital economy. The result is deepening inequality, ongoing political support for right-wing populists and a hollowing out of the middle class. The Transatlantic Dialogue on the Industrial Heartlands: Shaping the Future project and its partners from the US and Germany are dedicated to creating new opportunities in old industrial heartlands in both countries by exchanging best practices and developing political strategies and policy solutions for a better, greener and more democratic future in the “places that don’t matter”. The main goal is to deliver increased living standards and opportunities, while also working towards rebuilding trust in democracy in the US and Germany.