tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7085195159661027971.post1505456994667640936..comments2024-03-15T16:14:36.387-04:00Comments on Just the social facts, ma'am: Confidence in Government, 1952-2016David Weakliemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02336229317604663975noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7085195159661027971.post-47068892428976014452018-04-23T21:37:47.152-04:002018-04-23T21:37:47.152-04:00FWIW, I dug down into the numbers you posted a whi...FWIW, I dug down into the numbers you posted a while ago. Into a rural county in one of the northern swing states. What I saw was a falling population (2000 to 2016), a roughly proportionately falling number of Democratic votes, and a big increase in the number of Republican votes in 2016*.<br /><br />I still think that the story of 2016 is that Trump enthused enough rural non-downscale whites to swing the three states. He put on a great show at his rallies, people loved them, and he didn't pull an etch-a-sketch and abandon them after the primaries.<br /><br />(The other part of the story people (conveniently?)forget is that Clinton resoundingly won the under-$50,000 a year income bracket and lost every other bracket. The idea that Clinton and Dems in general didn't speak enough to the "working classes" is simply nuts.)<br /><br />Sorry to be argumentative and grumpy, but I think people insist on missing a truly enthused demographic: rural, reasonably well-off whites. (Like my gun-nut uncle, who, with my grandfather, were rural DAR/SAR New Englanders with decent day jobs (Sylvania) and a nice plot of inherited property.)<br /><br />*: And of course, there's my nightmare memory of the terrifying number of Trump signs I saw on lawns in Tewksbury, MA, when I got lost driving around there the spring before the 2016 election. But I've said that before.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16317248278298169528noreply@blogger.com