Ohio's 'Dirty Little Secret': Blue-Collar Democrats For Trump

[Purveyor]

If Donald Trump wins the Republican Party nomination, his path to the White House will run through this working-class city with a knack for picking presidents.

No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio. And nowhere better reflects the challenges and opportunities Trump faces in his 2016 presidential quest than Canton, a once-booming industrial city that, like Ohio and the rest of America’s rust belt, is going through profound economic and demographic change.

Canton, a gritty northeastern Ohio city where the once-dominant steel industry has been in decline for 20 years, is the heart of Stark County, a political bellwether that, save twice, has picked every winning presidential candidate since 1964.

The real-estate mogul’s primary wins in Michigan and in Mississippi on Tuesday, in the face of blistering attacks from the party's establishment, expanded his lead in the White House nominating race and demonstrated his broad appeal across many demographic groups in the Republican Party.

But here, in predominately white Canton, the birthplace of professional American football, he will need to show cross-over appeal in the general election and win over not just Republicans but working-class Democrats and some independents, to beat a Democrat, illustrating the challenge he will face in Ohio and potentially other Midwestern “rust belt” states.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-ohio-insight-idUSKCN0WC19Q

[HughBeaumont]

1. In regards to economics, he's a stopped clock.

Right that one-sided Free Trade blows for American workers . . . wrong on pretty much everything else.

[Octafish]

2. Trump will fold when faced with the facts.

Drumpf der Demagogue will be exposed for the fascist know-nothing he is.

[0rganism]

3. i expect he'll get some crossover votes in the rust belt

there are plenty of blue-collar and union workers who are bigoted enough to be swayed by the Trump message.

and there are many many more who find his brand of xenophobic master race bullshit thoroughly repulsive. Trump is going to lose, he's going to lose big, and it will be fun as all hell to watch.