As the American economy becomes more complex, the winners and losers change. On Election Night, Donald Trump tapped into not just economic populism, but the wide chasm between those prospering on Wall Street and those struggling on Main Street.
If you have a 401(k), the financial economy has been good to you. But the view from the factory floor, especially through the heart of the country, looks decidedly different. Blue-collar jobs and pensions that once supported a stable middle-class lifestyle are disappearing; workers feel left out.
Many Trump supporters put aside his vile comments about women, immigrants, and other groups in order to vote their pocketbooks. Early exit polls found that the economy was a bigger issue for voters than foreign policy, immigration, and terrorism.
Economists, pollsters, pundits and the Clinton campaign simply missed the extent of this hurt and its impact at the ballot box. In September, for instance, economists celebrated a Census Bureau report hailing that median household income rose 5.2 percent in 2015, from $53,718 to $56,516. It was touted as the first real gain since 2007 and the largest gain on record since 1967. Poverty also fell sharply; middle-class incomes rose steeply.
However, too many Americans still felt lost in that sea of statistics. Trump tapped into the visceral fears of millions of white working- and middle-class Americans. Nearly two-thirds of voters say the nation’s economic condition is poor or not so good, according to CNN exit polls. And these people voted for Trump 2-to-1, many in the belief that a businessman would know how best to improve the economy.
This newspaper recognized during the campaign that the anxiety felt by Trump supporters is real; however, we expressed skepticism that the solutions Trump offered would be much of a balm. There is general agreement among liberal and conservative economists, for example, that his tax cut plans would explode the deficit, along with a fear that his protectionist leanings could toss the US into trade wars and sink the US economy back into a recession.
However, much of the electorate heard something different. Now Trump has the opportunity to deliver on his promises.
