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Guest Essay

By Marcia Chatelain

Dr. Chatelain is a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America."

In presidential politics, you have to meet potential voters where they are. So every four years, churches, college campuses and even barbershops become the mainstays of the presidential campaign circuit. But, this year, the contenders have added the McDonald’s fry station. On Sunday, Donald Trump walked into a Bucks County, Pa., McDonald’s and told the store owner that he was looking for a job, explaining that “I’ve always wanted to work at McDonald’s.”

The public’s image of the typical McDonald’s employee has overlapped with the elusive voter both parties are hoping to secure in the last days of the race. The Trump and Harris campaigns have relied on the American dream of industry and unbridled capitalism to tell a story about social mobility and who can deliver it to more Americans. The story of who owns and who works at McDonald’s is part of that story.

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned in campaign ads and interviews her experience working at McDonald’s as a student, the Trump campaign has accused the vice president of lying about her Big Mac bona fides. Even the Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s revelation that he was a McDonald’s Employee of the Month has not lessened the accusation that Democrats do not know or understand the Golden Arches like Mr. Trump does. Mr. Trump resurfaced his unfounded claims that Ms. Harris never worked at McDonald’s in Bucks County.

When Ms. Harris and Mr. Emhoff worked at McDonald’s in the early 1980s, the minimum wage never ticked higher than $3.35 per hour. This is the period that solidified the impression that the majority of its employees were like Ms. Harris and Mr. Emhoff, young people who temporarily worked to enhance allowances or put money toward tuition payments. The average age of a fast food worker in 2021 was 26 years old. In the ’80s, Mr. Trump — an aficionado and frequent........

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