People

Forget about political parties for a second and consider the state of the people.

A very small percentage have so much that they have no concerns about how to pay for things or how much they cost.

They are a small percentage but in a country such as ours that still adds up to a significant number.

Enough of them, mostly those new to the group, are very visible and flaunt their lifestyle and wealth.

They create a desire in others to be like them, to join that exclusive club.  A few do either because of a bright idea or perhaps sport talent but for most of us they are out of realistic reach.

Another percentage of Americans about (10%) are what we used to call comfortable.  They have accumulated some wealth and income and while not so secure as to be worry free, they can enjoy much of what America has to offer.

They likely have or had a job with a major corporation and earned, to some extent income and prestige.

Below them is the group that we tend to think of as the middle class, although that term is pretty vague.  They tend to be college educated, employed and are able (with credit) to afford a house, a nice car, some investments, some savings and generally resemble the Americans we see in most sitcoms.  They are not likely to have much of a cushion, likely to have student debt for themselves or their children and employer provided health insurance.  They live a life at risk of a major financial setback, such as loss of job and benefits or a major health crisis.

We now turn to working class Americans who comprise the rest.  The jobs they can get now are not as good as the high paying high benefit Union jobs their fathers had, as unions have been effectively attacked by the business owners.  They struggle on a regular basis to live a decent lifestyle and the industrious ones work multiple jobs and so do their spouses, and they still have trouble.  Many of them turn to alcohol or drugs to deal with the desperation of their lives and neither helps beyond the immediate high.  They struggle and are the most manipulated group.  They are told that immigrants and minorities have stolen the good jobs and the good benefits.  The very things they need, like health care and decent old age pensions, affordable or free education and job training are lambasted as giveaways to those "others" that come out of their tax dollars.

It is this last group that is most likely to want change or to decide that the system is so broken that it isn't even worth voting.

You see a concerted effort to convince them that the very people who moved their jobs, reduced their benefits and initiated the opioid epidemic have their best interests at heart.

As they like to say, what else do you have to lose?

Whatever it is, they will take it.