# Help me understand the anger of Trump voters / working class white people. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 8, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320 "2016-03-08T19:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/141 "2016-03-16T13:56:01Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > This is why I stated the new jobs would be hugely subidized, and no guarantee of sustainable jobs being produced. This example of miners is why an element of working class whites are pissed off at Democrats. Because Democrats are responsible for the death of King Coal? I think the price of natural gas had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/142 "2016-03-16T14:05:33Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because Democrats are responsible for the death of King Coal? I think the price of natural gas had something to do with it. I don’t know if coal fired power plants can be adapted to natural gas. Either adaptation or building new power plants would be very expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/143 "2016-03-16T14:20:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t know if coal fired power plants can be adapted to natural gas. Either adaptation or building new power plants would be very expensive. Natural gas tops coal as [top source of electricity in US](http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/14/natural-gas-tops-coal-as-top-source-of-electric-power-generation-in-us.html): > [@](#): > > For the first time ever, natural gas trumped coal as the top source of electric power generation in the U.S. In April, roughly 31 percent of electric power generation came from natural gas, whereas coal accounted for 30 percent, according to a recent SNL Energy report. > > It’s a dramatic difference from April 2010, when coal accounted for 44 percent of the mix and natural gas just 22 percent. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/144 "2016-03-16T14:28:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t know if coal fired power plants can be adapted to natural gas. Either adaptation or building new power plants would be very expensive. There’s a ton of capital expenditure involved in replacing the equipment at a power plant, far more than just running a pipe and sticking a new burner in the old furnace. But it’s possible and often makes financial sense to retire the coal system and install a combined-cycle gas turbine system next to it, reconnect the wires, and fire it up. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/145 "2016-03-16T14:50:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Democrats like to say they represent the interests of poor whites, but where were Democrats on Keystone? Exactly where they should have been, representing the interests of **everybody’s** environment, including poor whites’. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/146 "2016-03-16T15:03:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do you think the average American is educated enough to understand what “good economic policy” entails? Do you think the average Swede or Dane is? And yet they do seem to pick 'em. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/147 "2016-03-16T15:13:41Z")
Liberals like to gripe about the “Southern Strategy” that won over many working-class white to the Republican side. What they conveniently forget is that the Democratic Party leadership made a conscious decision to boot working-class whites out of the New Deal coalition at the same time Richard Nixon started trying to win them over. Under the guidance of Cal-Berkeley president Fred Dutton, the Democrats amde a calculated decision to abandon the white working class, and rebuild the party by appealing to the New Left (i.e. Dutton’s students) and ethnic minorities. The Democrats stopped even pretending to care about the white working class, whom they regarded as ungrateful, unreliable bastards. It’s not a coincidence that movies like \*\*\*Joe \*\*\*and TV shows like _ **All in the Family** _ came along in the early Seventies. That will show you how the Hollywood Left had come to view the American working man: as a stupid, dangerous bigot. Since the early Seventies, the Democrats have been “a coalition of the fringes.” The Democratic coalition includes the super highly educated AND the completely uneducated, the very rich AND the very poor. And the ONLY thing these groups really have in common is disdain for the white folks in the middle. A white Sociology professor at UCLA and a welfare mom in Compton almost have nothing in common, but will both vote a straight Democratic ticket. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/148 "2016-03-16T15:23:34Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Under the guidance of Cal-Berkeley president Fred Dutton, the Democrats amde a calculated decision to abandon the white working class, and rebuild the party by appealing to the New Left (i.e. Dutton’s students) and ethnic minorities. The Democrats stopped even pretending to care about the white working class, whom they regarded as ungrateful, unreliable bastards. > > It’s not a coincidence that movies like \*\*\*Joe \*\*\*and TV shows like _ **All in the Family** _ came along in the early Seventies. That will show you how the Hollywood Left had come to view the American working man: as a stupid, dangerous bigot. Sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/149 "2016-03-16T15:58:47Z")
It’s nonsense. The white working class abandoned the Dems because of the Civil Rights Act. Does the Hard Hat Riot ring a bell? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/150 "2016-03-16T16:34:32Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > It’s nonsense. The white working class abandoned the Dems because of the Civil Rights Act. Does the Hard Hat Riot ring a bell? That’s what you’d like to tell yourself. But the white working class voted overwhelmingly for LBJ in 1964, in spite of the Civil Rights Act. The Fred Duttons of the world saw the Hard Hat riots and had to decide, “Are we the party of the hippies or of the blue collar workers we built our coalition around 40 years ago?” They went with the hippies, drove out the hard hats, and told themselves that the white working class were stupid bigots whose interests could be safely ignored. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/151 "2016-03-16T16:52:44Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > It’s nonsense. The white working class abandoned the Dems because of the Civil Rights Act. Does the Hard Hat Riot ring a bell? Why can’t both be true? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/152 "2016-03-16T16:54:53Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because Democrats are responsible for the death of King Coal? I think the price of natural gas had something to do with it. Eh? I said nothing about the death of King coal. I talked about Hillary’s recently announced plan to close coal mines and put thousands of coalminers out of a job. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/153 "2016-03-16T16:59:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Do you think the average Swede or Dane is? And yet they do seem to pick 'em. Sweden and Denmark don’t share America’s proud tradition of being dumb as shit. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/154 "2016-03-16T16:59:54Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Gee wouldn’t it be nice if voters could spot when they are being lied to? Or maybe they can, and would rather live in a fool’s paradise. They keep voting for liars, and you think offering candidates that tell the truth is going to make any difference? Who are you to deny them what they want? The people have spoken, and you aren’t listening. They can’t handle the truth. They have no choice but to vote for liars. This is _politics_ we’re talking about. And please don’t even try to tell me Trump isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/155 "2016-03-16T18:08:17Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Liberals like to gripe about the “Southern Strategy” that won over many working-class white to the Republican side. What they conveniently forget is that the Democratic Party leadership made a conscious decision to boot working-class whites out of the New Deal coalition at the same time Richard Nixon started trying to win them over. I’ve seen no evidence of this at all. History has shown time and time again that the one voting block most pandered to in this country are working class whites. They have more clout than any other group in this country other than rich businessmen. Perhaps you’ve forgotten the insanity that was the 2008 presidential election. Remember Hilary Clinton trying to convince America that Obama was too unelectable to win the general? Her claim had nothing to do with minorities and other “fringe” groups, and all to do with appealing to [uneducated, blue-collar whites](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=467259&highlight=clinton+uneducated+whites). You know, the kind of folks who politicians on both sides have to pay lip service to in order to win the swing states. The whole wearing a button down flannel and rolling up your sleeves schtick is part and parcel of American politics. I actually think the pandering that has gone on is one of the reason we see such anger from working class whites. It has raised their expectations and made them feel extra entitled. Yes, they are taking the brunt of outsourcing and economic trends…but so are many minorities. Why the difference in outrage levels? Because minorities have a lot of experience feeling disenfranchised and alienated from power. So much experience in fact that they are generally too cynical to fall for charlatans like Trump. Working class whites, apparently not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/156 "2016-03-16T18:24:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > They have no choice but to vote for liars. This is _politics_ we’re talking about. Take it up with **adaher**. He is the one that said the lies have to stop. > [@](#): > > And please don’t even try to tell me Trump isn’t. Well of course he is. But Trump supporters say the reason they like him is because the establishment candidates they elected in the past didn’t do what they promised. Oh, but this time, this time it will be different. Those voters are morons. And don’t tell me they aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/157 "2016-03-16T18:43:27Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Liberals like to gripe about the “Southern Strategy” that won over many working-class white to the Republican side. What they conveniently forget is that the Democratic Party leadership made a conscious decision to boot working-class whites out of the New Deal coalition at the same time Richard Nixon started trying to win them over. > > Under the guidance of Cal-Berkeley president Fred Dutton, the Democrats amde a calculated decision to abandon the white working class, and rebuild the party by appealing to the New Left (i.e. Dutton’s students) and ethnic minorities. The Democrats stopped even pretending to care about the white working class, whom they regarded as ungrateful, unreliable bastards. But, appealing to the new left and minorities did **not** in any way constitute **abandoning** the WWWs. If the latter decided they did not like what the Democratic Party was becoming, that’s all on their own dumb asses, nobody asked them to leave. If my racist uncle stalks out of my house because I invited a black to dinner, **I** have not abandoned **him.** ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/158 "2016-03-16T18:44:48Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Gee wouldn’t it be nice if voters could spot when they are being lied to? Or maybe they can, and would rather live in a fool’s paradise. They keep voting for liars, and you think offering candidates that tell the truth is going to make any difference? Who are you to deny them what they want? The people have spoken, and you aren’t listening. They can’t handle the truth. On the issues of trade and immigration, pretty much all voters know where the political class stands: for liberalization, and what restrictions there are, they don’t want to enforce. They’ve learned that from campaign after campaign where politicians tell them they are on their side and we’ll renegotiate NAFTA and oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership and well put in biometric entry/exit systems and go after employers who hire workers illegally and then they get into office and do the opposite. So yeah, voters know they are being lied to. With Clinton especially, how could they not know? She negotiated TPP but now says she opposes it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/159 "2016-03-16T18:46:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But, appealing to the new left and minorities did **not** in any way constitute **abandoning** the WWWs. If the latter decided they did not like what the Democratic Party was becoming, that’s all on their own dumb asses, nobody asked them to leave. If my racist uncle stalks out of the house because I invited a black to dinner, I have not abandoned him. The problem isn’t that Democrats abandoned white workers for minority workers, it’s that Democrats abandoned white workers for upper class environmentalists. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320/160 "2016-03-16T18:52:01Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > I’ve seen no evidence of this at all. History has shown time and time again that the one voting block most pandered to in this country are working class whites. They have more clout than any other group in this country other than rich businessmen. But that does not really give them clout. The problem is they get pandered to but not served. Once in office, pols will only do something for them if it costs the rich businessmen no money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-the-anger-of-trump-voters-working-class-white-people/748320.md?page=9)