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Originally Posted by OldDutch
Was in Chicago on the weekend. People down there were all too eager to chat about it even though I never brought it up.
People are flipping out in Obama's hometown, which isn't all that surprising. What was interesting was the Uber driver told me he had a statistician from one of the big polling companies a week before the election. The stats guy said that in auto polls Trump would be ahead, yet when they did human calls Hillary won. He said it was like that across the country.
Lots of closet Trump boosters. Which leads me to wonder if people voted for him are closet racists, didn't agree with the social but the economic policy, felt pressure from others to support Hillary publicly, or something else.
Love to see the objective stats if/when they come out of why this happened. It actually explains in a way how Hillary appeared to be ahead but lost when it counted.
I think people were more sick of losing their jobs to be honest. I still contend that Obama's tenure brought little relief to those who needed it the most. I think he helped the economy just in an uneven way. The black vote will always be his, but Hillary couldn't inspire enough confidence that she'll change course for these people.
Now do I think he will actually help anyone? Of course not. Just amazing how bad peoples lives have to be to vote for him. Speaks to the class divisions and how wide they are down there.
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And while I fully understand this frustration (Pittsburgh and suburbs south are full of people who moved from old dying coal mine towns), these same people refuse to look to any other option that isn't "bring back coal!"
Coal isn't coming back. Manufacturing jobs were lost more due to technological advancement than because of trade deals. The days of high school dropouts getting well paying union jobs at a manufacturing plant or in a coal mine are behind us, and they're not coming back.
Thus the democratic principles of pushing forth education, of making internet more readily available, pushing for trade certification (because no one's outsourcing welders or plumbers) would help these people, but they vote against democrats because Guns and Gay Marriage and Abortion and then they cry when their towns continue to falter and their children don't have opportunities.
Not to mention the GOP's staunch anti-union stance, which has led to a lot of the employment uncertainty that these people face.
I understand their concerns, but at some point they need to take some blame for voting against their own best interests.