Why do Trump thinkpieces keep mentioning the Rust Belt? He's losing the Rust Belt.

[Recursion]

Pretty badly, it's looking like. He's down severely in PA, IL, and MI, barely even in OH, and only slightly ahead in IN. I guess people may be expanding the notion of "rust belt" to include WV and KY (though they never had the kind of huge steel industry that the term usually implies). But even so it's not where his base is.

None of this near-northeast stuff is where is core support is: his core support is a southeast-northwest line going from the Deep South through the central Plains up to Big Sky country. That's not the rust belt. Those regions haven't seen industry declines over the past few decades -- on the contrary, they've seen above-average economic growth (in some cases by literally taking factories from the Rust Belt).

[bettyellen]

1. They also pretend they are struggling- earning 70k where housing is cheap and taxes are

Much lower.... No one ever points out how self-segregating or financially well off they are. It's such bullshit.

[Foggyhill]

2. 70K near NYC, San Francisco and Los Angeles is like 30K there

[bettyellen]

4. Exactly- and no one talks about it!

[Recursion]

3. And they're using struggling poor people as shields

Despite the fact that Trump's doing significantly better among people making $75K-$150K than he is among people making less than $75K.

http://polling.reuters.com/#poll/TM651Y15_13/filters/INCOME:1|2|3|4|5

[bettyellen]

5. That's a great way to frame it- stealing that and bookmarking that link- thanks!

[Recursion]

6. Spread it far and wide!

I really want to push back against this idea that Trump's support is poor white people: it isn't, primarily: it's moderately well-off white people.

[JI7]

7. because they usually don't mean black and other minorities

When speaking about these things.

[Recursion]

9. Well, hell, we might as well write thinkpieces about Clinton's Texas support based on Austin

I mean, I see your point, I guess, it's just odd to look at that state map and go precisely where his obvious support base isn't, and focus on a region where he seems to be getting walloped.

[JI7]

10. it's like this article i posted about white working class women

It said amOng the white working class the women actually made up majority and they are less likely to support trump. By focusing on the men only you get misleading numbers.

But republucans push a story and the media repeats it because it's simple and easy.

Kellyanne Conway tOday said something about people thinking Hillary is winning based on where the media is but the struggling people are supporting trump. Trying to imply the elitist liberal media ignores all those regular people .

[Recursion]

11. Great point

Just like IIRC Ezra Klein's piece about how it's silly to say the "working class" supports Trump.

I do sincerely hope that this election is what wakes the US up to the fact that we are one of the most diverse countries on earth...

[Wounded Bear]

8. They're trying to save the Senate and House...