https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ohio-county-tells-story-of-the-seismic-shift-of-working-class-voters-toward-gop
Ron Spickler is sitting on the front porch of his modest Mahoning County brick home eating dinner and watching the world drive by the busy little state routes that intersect and pass his front door.
On his lawn are a variety of signs that tell the story of Spickler — at least, the political story. There is a Trump-Pence 2020 sign, a Trump flag, a Trump Country sign, and an Ohio for Trump banner.....at the Mahoning County Republican headquarters on Market Street, Sher Wenowitz has been there most of the day making calls, handing out Trump-Pence signs, and signing people up who walk through the door asking how they can get involved. Wenowitz also voted for Obama, also left the Democratic Party in 2016, and until this year had never volunteered for a political campaign in her life. “I talked to my husband, asked him if we could get by if I retired, at least short term so I could volunteer at the campaign headquarters," she said. "He said, 'Yes,' and on December 31st, I put my real estate license on inactive and have devoted my time to getting President Trump reelected."........
Mahoning County was the home of blue-collar working Democrats, both black and white, who worked the factories and manufacturing powerhouses that once dotted the valley like bulking dinosaurs peering out of the softly rolling hills............This time, Republicans plan on making the shift whole. If Trump flips the county, it will become the poster child for the slow drift of the working class into the Republican Party...........
Both Ohio counties show America’s electoral trends that began incrementally in 2002....The national media missed this slow creep and mistakenly believed it was caused by Trump missing that the middle of the country had been moving away from the Democrats and them for nearly a generation. He was not the cause but the result of the Democratic Party becoming more focused on issues such as transgender bathrooms and not on jobs and trade deals...........have turned their focus on gun restrictions, higher taxes, and climate change and ignored the rage in the streets while Trump focuses on preserving law and order and jobs, the Columbus suburbs are stalled on who they would support.
Mahoning is poised to make history and vote for its first Republican for president since 1972.
Outside the Trump headquarters, the door here opens and closes repeatedly as supporters old and new make their way into their office to pick up a sign, or three for their yards, a Trump face mask, and, more often than not, offer to help the effort................McCabe is also blown away by the efficiency, investment, and bodies the Trump campaign has placed here in Mahoning for person-to-person voter contact...........“I've never seen such a concerted effort and organization so focused on personal contact than I've seen in 2020, and it started September 1st of last year here in Mahoning County,” he said.............“It may be that these voters are simply lost to Democrats for the near future,” said Paul Sracic, a political science professor at Youngstown State University......
“One of the mistakes people make when talking about places like the Mahoning Valley is that we think of Trump’s supporters as down-and-out white voters with no college degree..........“While many of Trump’s voters may lack a college degree, that doesn’t mean they don’t work for or maybe even own a small business, for example, a landscaping business or HVAC repair company. They appreciate the Trump administration’s pushback on costly regulations,” he said............“They might have a job, but they want their kids to be able to find a job nearby," said Sracic. "Trump offered them that hope.”............“These voters are not hung up on how Trump talks," said Sracic. "He delivered on the issue that they care about: trade............
“Democrats seem to think they steal these voters back by arguing, on the one hand, that Trump is incompetent, and on the other hand, that Democrats also want to protect American jobs and have a better plan [than] Trump. These are going to be hard sells,”............To Read More....
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