Why Kamala Harris wants voters to know she’s from the middle class

By Michael Baggs (with Emily, Jon and Lewis)

Kamala Harris has made her middle-class upbringing a key part of her election campaign, and her vision for improving lives for US people in the same position she once was.

In brief…

Read time: 5 mins

• The term ‘middle-class’ covers a far more broad range in the US than it does the UK.
• Kamala Harris has said her middle-class upbringing has shaped her vision for the US if she wins the November election, including introducing bigger small business loans.
• The News Agents say voter relationships to people in power with money are also very different between the US and UK.

What’s the story?

Kamala Harris is making her middle-class status a key message of her presidential campaign, as the November election draws ever closer.

"I was raised a middle class kid," she said in the opening lines of her September debate with Donald Trump, paying tribute to her mum for raising her and her sister, and working to afford the family's first home.

She mentioned her middle-class upbringing several times during the TV clash, as she used her personal experiences to explain her goals for supporting and raising living standards for America's current middle class.

Harris focuses on middle class in opening remarks of debate with Trump | ABC Presidential Debate

More recently, she's shared several social media posts about her mum, her upbringing and how that has shaped her political vision for America – and why she believes she is better placed to lead the country than her Republican rival.

The News Agents say you’d never hear a British politician make their middle class status a focal point of any campaign, but there’s a very good reason for that – things are structured very differently between the UK and the US.

Where the class system differs between the UK and US

In America, the middle class is more broad than in the UK, and covers what might be considered working class in the UK. The US class system is a little less structured, and people living below middle class in America are considered to be in poverty.

"In Britain, the term middle class is also a bit of a synonym for Bourgeois," says Lewis Goodall.

"There's a cultural connotation to it. There's something slightly narrow about it, something a bit 'Basil Fawlty' about it."

Lewis adds that in the UK, no one would ever be found "parading around" claiming to be middle class.

"I think we judge people much more on class in the UK than people do in America," Jon adds.

"You meet somebody, and you're already guessing what sort of university, what sort of education, they've had."

He believes this doesn't apply in America, at least not to the same extent.

“If you've got money, you're doing well," he adds.

In the US, Jon says, "people kind of revere you, and you're seen to have done good because you've made a load of money."

Does it matter if you worked in McDonalds?

To stress her middle-class upbringing, Harris has been speaking about her time working in McDonalds, focusing on her experience prepping Big Macs rather than her years rising the legal ranks to become the district attorney of California before entering politics.

"Part of the reason I even talk about having worked at McDonald's is because there are people who work at McDonald's in our country who are trying to raise a family," Harris told Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC.

"I worked there as a student."

"I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility, then, is to meet those needs."

Donald Trump joined his father's real estate firm when he was 22, and was made president of the company three years later.

Harris echoed her McDonald's credentials on social media as she pledged to ease financial burdens on working families.

Kamala Harris isn't the only key political figure to have spoken about her time flipping burgers while campaigning for major roles in 2024.

Kemi Badenoch, currently in the running to become the next leader of the Conservatives in the UK recently claimed she "became working class" when she also worked for the fast-food conglomerate when she was 16.

It's all about relatability.

Harris has worked at the top level in US politics since becoming Vice President in 2020, and Badenoch has held several front bench positions in the former Tory government after a career in banking and IT.

But The News Agents aren't sure that one brief teenage stint on minimum wages makes someone truly understand the struggle of low-paid workers.

"Everyone I know has worked at McDonald's, or something like McDonald's," says Emily.

"I don't think having a sort of part time job as a student or as a young person makes you understand the trials and tribulations of working families."

What's The News Agents' take?

Ultimately, it all comes down to money, and public perception of those who have it – and those who do not.

"I think fundamentally, we don't really approve of those that govern us being rich in this country," says Emily.

"In America, they really do."

Politicians, on both sides of the pond, are hesitant to talk about their own financial stability, and instead focus on the parts of their lives they believe make them more relatable to voters – despite the wheels that run politics, worldwide, all coming down to cold hard cash.

"Money plays a much bigger role in American politics – you have to have money almost to be competitive," Jon says.

"You have to know rich people who are going to dip in and pay fortunes up front, because that's the only way you can run a campaign."

Listen in full on The News Agents.

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