You know how many times I've heard that excuse?
Clerics targeted first cause heals
Mages targeted first cause of damage/aoes
Spears targeted first cause of aoes
Bourges targeted first cause of burn aoe
Artisan targeted first cause they're literally a free kill...
I mean really, they can't ALL be targeted first as a primary kill target, which means it's opinion diluting the reality of the situation.
Based on this information from 2015, Artisans official get killed the most during that time frame.
Second goes to 'Mages' specifically, but if you average in Artisans and Bourges, you'd get a tie of 2.8, which is equal to Mages. Given the progression of the game, It's pretty safe to speculate Dealers still die the most. As a combination of minimum to zero survival passives or mechanics / traits, as well as their offensive threat to raiders and scouts. They become the meta-classes primary concern first, and they drop the fastest as well.