Donald Trump got Reagan-like support from union households

[TomSea]

Donald Trump got Reagan-like support from union households

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.

He sort of did.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/10/donald-trump-got-reagan-like-support-from-union-households/

[LMAO]

It'll be interesting to see how Trump keeps those union folks on board without hurting the economy or our ability to compete in the world economy

[Rivergirl]

Folks really believe there will be steel mills and coal mines right around the corner.  Any day now.
Talk about low information..........how about NO information, no logic, no deportations either.  So those jobs aren't going to be for grabs either.
Sad times coming for those who believed him and a pox on those who promoted this unethical know nothing loud mouthed celebrity.

[truth_seeker]

Folks really believe there will be steel mills and coal mines right around the corner.  Any day now.
Talk about low information..........how about NO information, no logic, no deportations either.  So those jobs aren't going to be for grabs either.
Sad times coming for those who believed him and a pox on those who promoted this unethical know nothing loud mouthed celebrity.

You preferred Hillary?

He offers approval of the Keystone pipeline for openers. He talks about rebuilding infrastructure. He talks about rebuilding our depleted military.

[LMAO]

Folks really believe there will be steel mills and coal mines right around the corner.  Any day now.
Talk about low information..........how about NO information, no logic, no deportations either.  So those jobs aren't going to be for grabs either.
Sad times coming for those who believed him and a pox on those who promoted this unethical know nothing loud mouthed celebrity.

It'll be interesting to see the reaction to these people when they find out most of these jobs won't be coming  back. Or at least in the numbers they are hoping. Reagan attracted many of these people mostly on the social issues

It's not Trump's fault. It's just we now live in a global economy and that isn't going to change unless we have the same conditions we had post WW2

[TomSea]

He won at least Wisc and Mich with the blue collar working class.

Came close in Minnesota, McMullin's votes might have affected the 1% loss.

Won Ohio.

He won the Midwest, blue states and Pa. too,

Quite a feat, I was afraid we were stuck with Democratic rule for awhile...

[LMAO]

You preferred Hillary?

. He talks about rebuilding infrastructure. He talks about rebuilding our depleted military.

BHO also passed a stimulus to rebuild our infrastructure and it didn't go as planned. Besides, all that costs money and we are 20trillion in debt as it is

[truth_seeker]

It'll be interesting to see the reaction to these people when they find out most of these jobs won't be coming  back. Or at least in the numbers they are hoping. Reagan attracted many of these people mostly on the social issues

It's not Trump's fault. It's just we now live in a global economy and that isn't going to change unless we have the same conditions we had post WW2

Federal government contracts can dictate domestic content. Federal grants to states/locales can dictate domestic content. Approvals can be given for the Keystone Pipeline, and military spending can be ramped up to replace/repair depleted military equipment.

Pretty quickly, too. Nothing compared to the false promise of Obama's "shovel ready" farse.

[Norm Lenhart]

Folks really believe there will be steel mills and coal mines right around the corner.  Any day now.
Talk about low information..........how about NO information, no logic, no deportations either.  So those jobs aren't going to be for grabs either.
Sad times coming for those who believed him and a pox on those who promoted this unethical know nothing loud mouthed celebrity.

Coal mines and oil could be back on line is a matter of months to a couple years tops. Thats easy. All he has to do is EO the EPA, post the guard at sites to deal with protesters and the process begins.

the rest of it is not going to be easy.

[truth_seeker]

BHO also passed a stimulus to rebuild our infrastructure and it didn't go as planned. Besides, all that costs money and we are 20trillion in debt as it is

Don't be surprised if four years from now, the cumulative deficit has grown further, hopefully at a much reduced rate.

Tax cut to stimulate real growth, and spending as you not may add the deficit.

The counter argument is "growing" our way out of the deficit, with a bigger total economy.

I make no claim of being an economics wizard. Reagan, Bush II and Obama all added greatly to cumulative deficit and were reelected.

[dfwgator]

It'll be interesting to see the reaction to these people when they find out most of these jobs won't be coming  back. Or at least in the numbers they are hoping. Reagan attracted many of these people mostly on the social issues

It's not Trump's fault. It's just we now live in a global economy and that isn't going to change unless we have the same conditions we had post WW2

My hope is that Trump will negotiate trade deals that are better for the US......I don't think he would want to impose tariffs.   But a good negotiator NEVER takes ANYTHING off of the table.

An example from Reagan, "Star Wars", it's open to debate whether Reagan really meant to go through with it,  but the point was,  the Soviets believed he would. 

[LMAO]

A lot of these type of jobs that Trump is promising to bring back in droves are not coming back for the simple reason is if a company can produce an item in, let's say Southeast Asia, for less of the cost of producing it in America with it's higher labor costs, they will. Trump's threat to tax companies that leave the country probably appealed to these union households but Trump cannot defy the law of economics. He can re negotiate all the trade deals he wants. It isn't going to change anything

It sounded to me during the campaign that Trump was more inclined to pursue Keynesian model

Automation is also a factor. I suspect we will see a lot of older white guys in four years asking were the jobs are?

[Cripplecreek]

A lot of these type of jobs that Trump is promising to bring back in droves are not coming back for the simple reason is if a company can produce an item in, let's say Southeast Asia, for less of the cost of producing it in America with it's higher labor costs, they will. Trump's threat to tax companies that leave the country probably appealed to these union households but Trump cannot defy the law of economics. He can re negotiate all the trade deals he wants. It isn't going to change anything

It sounded to me during the campaign that Trump was more inclined to pursue Keynesian model

Automation is also a factor. I suspect we will see a lot of older white guys in four years asking were the jobs are?

Another reason he'll be in the white house for no more than 4 years. Too many promises he just can't keep.

[LMAO]

Another reason he'll be in the white house for no more than 4 years. Too many promises he just can't keep.

I can't say if he will be a one or two term president.

But he, and many of his supporters, are going to discover the difference between campaign rhetoric and reality

[montanajoe]

Trump ain't no Reagan and this isn't 1980.

These folks want jobs and they want them now..when Trump can't deliver its not going to be pretty and the GOP will take the blame..

[LMAO]

Trump ain't no Reagan and this isn't 1980.

These folks want jobs and they want them now..when Trump can't deliver its not going to be pretty and the GOP will take the blame..

They're fighting to keep the horse and buggy industry going while the automobile is being invented

[Cripplecreek]

They're fighting to keep the horse and buggy industry going while the automobile is being invented

These union members are not the same as the Reagan Democrats anyway. For the most part they're fully indoctrinated marxists.

[LMAO]

Too many people run that believe they are smarter than the market.

[FS7]

Another reason he'll be in the white house for no more than 4 years. Too many promises he just can't keep.

This is not necessarily true. It looks to me like a lot of blue collar voters turned out for Trump or switched, but an absolute truckload of voters didn't bother to vote for either party. Trump is barely tracking above McCain and is still behind Romney. There are other things to consider - the count isn't final, and population has ticked up - but in general, Trump has, percentage-wise, turned out slightly fewer people than either McCain or Romney, while Clinton turned out a lot fewer people than Obama (especially compared to 2008). I caution people thinking this a is a mandate or wave election.

That said, while economics prevents a lot of what he promised to do, people may not actually care. Realistically, manufacturing won't come back for reasons of basic economics. If protectionist policies are implemented, that will make things worse, not better. However, he probably should be able to make strikes towards energy, and while infrastructure spending is a bad idea (Keynesian economics at its finest), blue collar voters might like it. If Trump has something to point to, he will likely retain that base.

I should note also that electoral politics is not necessarily results-based and never has been. People simply want to feel represented - to feel like "their guy" is in office. Whether that person is able to accomplish anything or not is not relevant - if they don't or can't, people tend to believe that they were prevented from doing so by the opposition party regardless of the truth of the matter.

[Frank Cannon]

You preferred Hillary?

He offers approval of the Keystone pipeline for openers. He talks about rebuilding infrastructure. He talks about rebuilding our depleted military.

He also talks about using borrowed money for that and then defaulting on the loans.

BTW, Union membership is at an all time low. There are not that many Union jobs anymore. Trump getting their support isn't the coup that Reagan had when there were many more Union voters out there.

[Rivergirl]

People ought to check out America First Committee during FDR.
Populated by the likes of Lindbergh who saw no problem with the Nazi's and others who wanted us to stay out of WW 11.
It was ugly with a virulent current of anti semitsm as part of it's reason to be.

[Cripplecreek]

He also talks about using borrowed money for that and then defaulting on the loans.

BTW, Union membership is at an all time low. There are not that many Union jobs anymore. Trump getting their support isn't the coup that Reagan had when there were many more Union voters out there.

Good point about union strength. When we passed RTW in Michigan a few years ago, union jobs only made up around 12% of the total private sector workforce. Some 40% of those supported RTW.

Also there's the fantasy that union members are all democrats. I did nearly 25 years in unions and was never a liberal or democrat. I was forced into unions and never forgot that fact. HOWEVER the remaining union members tend to be hard left urban marxists who want to retire at 40, own a million dollar vacation home, and never want to pay another co-pay for an office visit or prescriction and "the rich" will pay for it all.

[Longmire]

Sad times coming for those who believed him and a pox on those who promoted this unethical know nothing loud mouthed celebrity.

Essentially a wish that vocal Trump supporters contract a deadly disease.

[DCPatriot]

DUH!!!

I told you all that last year.   

[Free Vulcan]

I can verify that. Live in a quintessential blue collar Dem, Midwest union town. They haven't voted GOP for Prez probably in 40+ years, but Trump won handily here and in a similar county in the north and another a couple of counties away.