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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWaPo (2016) - Donald Trump got Reagan-like support from union households
Thanks to Bernie Sanders attacking from the left, Trump from the right, and Russia all around, Trump was able to convince union members to support him over Hillary Clinton, a life long liberal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/10/donald-trump-got-reagan-like-support-from-union-households/?utm_term=.fd53562898b0
From Day One, Donald Trump's dream has been to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan. "Make America Great Again" is a retread of an old Reagan slogan and Trump has, in response to past interview questions, said that the Reagan era was the "great" to which his slogan refers. It was the time that Donald Trump became Donald Trump, down to "The Art of the Deal."
His campaign strategy was to lure working-class Democrats to his cause, just the way Reagan did. That Reagan had already lured them was incidental; Trump insisted that he would engender the love of those blue-collar voters and win because of them.
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Trump's depiction of who those voters were centered on two broad archetypes: Veterans and displaced factory workers. There isn't good polling on the former, but it overlaps with the white, non-college-educated men who made up a significant part of Trump's base. In one formulation of the latter, union members, we have data from exit polling. In union households (that is, households in which someone was a union member), Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by only 8 points, a substantial improvement from how Mitt Romney did in 2012.
In fact, it was the best margin for a Republican since ... 1984, the election that gave Reagan his second term.
Cha
(298,077 posts)Response to Cha (Reply #1)
BlueTsunami2018 This message was self-deleted by its author.
still_one
(92,526 posts)when they voted for Reagan over Carter, then they are kind of getting their just desserts, and the SC decision today on unions is part of that.
I will concede that this might be more complicated then presented in the article, since in all likelihood trump duped many of them with the lies about jobs. Remember Carrier?
He also pushed the coal theme, and no doubt those in that industry might have been influenced by that, but anyone with any sense of critical thinking would have realized he was talking out of his ass, and his record of how his personal business had treated labor and business within his own empire, was dismal, at best, and if they were duped by that, in spite of overwhelming evidence of his dishonesty, then they will be paying for the consequences of their actions
OnDoutside
(19,987 posts)BlueTsunami2018
(3,513 posts)Theyre still on board. They love the immigration stuff, the shit talking, the name calling and the incivility. Its ironic because nearly all would have voted for Bernie if he got the nomination and he is none of those things.
People really underestimated how much blue collar workers hate Secretary Clinton. I mean these guys despise her and they cant answer me why. Its completely irrational.
I explained over and over at job meetings about the courts, the danger our rights were being put in, how utterly unqualified Тяцмр is but they did not care. The racism, sexism and belief in empty promises were too much to overcome. Lots of gun nuts too. They still dont care.
Now, thats not to say its anything close to a majority of my union members but its a good 30%. To have to listen to these people still gloating is enough to make me want to hit a breaker while theyre working on a circuit. Of course, I wont. But the thought has crossed my mind. They shouldnt even be in a union.
JI7
(89,289 posts)they don't want to compete with women and non whites.
this hatred goes back to the days when she was first lady.
they see her as not staying in her space. if it was just about better pay for teachers , health care for kids , etc they would probably not hate her as much. but they see her as thinking she and non non white men are on the same or higher level.
True Blue American
(17,996 posts)Because I have heard it all since the 1980s.
Not one knows that NAFTA was a Bush program. Just that Clinton signed it.
Not a smart thing for him to do.
They bitched about paying Union dues, now they will not have to. That is, IF they still have those good paying jobs.
Ignorant,old people stuck in the past, never bothered to retrain, always thinking those out dated jobs would come back. Stuck in the past. Unlike many others who live in the present and adjust.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)Through all the years since NAFTA many Americans believe that NAFTA was a Democratic Clinton program. Clinton did as much damage as the GOP ever did really. Plus the Telecommunications Act also allowed massive media consolidation. I knew is was also a major blunder too.
Clinton allied himself with Gingrich and the GOP and forced a lot of Democrats to vote for it. He made deals with shaky Democrats. It is more than a coincidence that the Democrats lost Congress in the next election cycle.
When Trump started using NAFTA against Hillary I knew there was a serious problem.
True Blue American
(17,996 posts)Honestly, I would have been happy if neither Hillary or Bernie had run.
We need young blood. A poll shows Biden with 53% to Trump 38%.
That does not mean I want Biden to run.
We need to get rid of all the deadwood in Government. Old men and women without fresh ideas.
JI7
(89,289 posts)they still complain about the coloreds getting welfare and other bigoted crap.
True Blue American
(17,996 posts)Worked to make Welfare a temporary thing with work rules and time limits.
His wife would have improved on all that.
bucolic_frolic
(43,511 posts)non-educated and not very bright. These people hold a silent grudge against anyone or anything that they perceive as brighter, more educated, or smarter than they are, and they will tear down anything, including their own and their own finances, home, social support, to prove their own point. Maybe it's a self-congratulatory posture at their own brilliance. You cannot educate them, or explain to them how they will be better off by changing their beliefs because they already know better than you and you're just trying to pull a fast one on them. True paranoia does not go unrewarded.
We all blame Fox News. Ok. I believe that. But Fox News has found fertile ground in a populace with soft psychological boundaries yet inner mental rigidity. It's a mindset. These folks tuned out education in the 8th grade. They accept heroes that sound good to them because they have no criteria and no mental skills to question charlatans.
many a good man
(5,997 posts)True Blue American
(17,996 posts)Before we ever heard of Fox News. It is inbred.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)For helping promote a dictator for promises he lied about to protect them with. He conned them of their votes, now they realize they were taken by him, again like many others are finding out also.