I’ve been trying to understand why a significant part of the GOP electorate support Trump. One theme I keep hearing is that these voters are frustrated with or feel ignored by “the establishment.” Ann Coulter bashed Nikki Haley’s response with this sentiment. It does seem that racism on the part of some Trump supporters plays a part, but is that really all there is to it? I link the following articles as some samples of what I’m talking about, and many other similar articles are out there.
As I understand it, most of Trump’s support comes from less educated working class white peoples. Some of the things often mentioned as to why they are frustrated or fearful about include things like stagnant wages, terrorism, and Obamacare. What I don’t understand is why this group is so worked up about some of these issues, and why they think supporting Trump is the way to go. In particular, when it comes to healthcare, wages, and the economy, even if you feel these things are not doing well, why support Trump? Democrats are the ones who support things like increasing the minimum wage, improving access to healthcare, and working to help the middle class by taxing the highest income brackets.
Do these voters think that giving millionaires another tax will benefit them? Do they think being against an increase in the minimum wage will help them? Do they think spending billions on a war in the Middle East will help them, when the chances of dying by terrorist activity of the Islamic extremist variety is something like one in several million?
My positions are as follows.
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Things really aren’t all that bad, whether it be terrorism, crime, or jobs. Make America great again? Other than perhaps the late 1990s, I don’t know what time period this was that America was so much greater than we are right now.
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Even if you disagree with my above statement, the obvious answer should be to support the Democrats rather than Trump.
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I think most of the problems with any kind of political solution that the country faces are due almost entirely to Republican obstructionism. I think this should be fairly obvious to anyone who pays close attention to politics.
Where have I gone wrong with my thinking? Is it really all just about racism and xenophobia? I know that there is still racism in America, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Please her me understand this part of the electorate.