Posted on 09/05/2018 8:12:34 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ever since Donald Trump's improbable political rise, many have attributed his appeal among the white, male voter base to economic anxiety. Faced with unemployment and wage stagnation, these voters elected a president who promised to fight for jobs.
A study published on Wednesday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine offers an additional explanation: declining health and rising death rates in rural Republican bastions helped tilt the presidential election toward Trump.
"Changes in life expectancy were an independent factor in voting choices. Reduced health prospects are an important marker of dissatisfaction, discouragement, hopelessness, and fear — sentiments that may have resonated with voters who sided with President Trump," said Dr. Lee Goldman, the study leader and chief executive of the Columbia University Medical Center.
Other studies have added more elements to the economic anxiety narrative too. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that Trump voters were driven over a fear of losing their status. Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey of more than 3,000 people found that fears of cultural displacement pushed the white working class toward Trump.
White Americans from rural America, with less education and lower income levels, voted disproportionately for Trump, according to the Columbia study. This group is increasingly victim to "deaths of despair" related to alcohol, drugs and suicide, the researchers said....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
They need to drop their obsession with race.
Should that headline be “Depths” instead of “Deaths”?
It’s the Economy Stupid... Trump will cakewalk 2020... Short of 2 things:
A complete economic collapse
or
Being seen by his supporters as no longer putting America First.
If a goodly portion of construction on the wall starts 4 months or more prior to the 2020 election we are talking landslide IMHO.
I’m glad that my “...less education...” caused me to vote for Trump.
Must have been the same for most of my associates who also - coincidentally - voted for Trump.
Oh, ALL of them have degrees in subjects that are virtually unobtainable for journalists, politicians, etc. I guarantee that Dorkbama the Muslim eunuch quota baby, Kerry the military pretender, or McButtface, the thankfully dead POS wouldn’t even come close to doing real work in society.
This implies to me that perhaps those folks on the poorer side of society are smarter than the MSM, not dumber.
Always remember that your garbage man, plumber, electrician and handy man have provided you far more value than the vast vast majority of those loser politicians.
I think these guys who did the study...missed out on something. If you got in a truck today and spent six months touring the country....talking to just plain working-class people (GOP and Democrat)...they will all tell you prior to the November 2016 election...they were frustrated and fed up.
So along comes this Trump guy. Not really a GOP guy or a Democrat. He knows business and commerce. He knows NAFTA screwed folks over. He knows the news media. And he drills right into plain values. So these people voted, and went way beyond what the poll folks predicted. There is absolute anger in America today. Trump appears to be the only solution.
I agree...they are fixated on 2020 and having Trump gone. I think the longer he’s there....it’ll be near impossible for a plain political figure to go out in 2024 and win an election. The public will want a commerce and executive type guy...not some freaky pretender political figure.
It’s very simple.
Both parties were hell bent on making America into North Mexico and the citizens wanted it stopped.
The citizens have wanted it stopped since the establishment started their bipartisan policy of non-enforcement right after the last amnesty.
That bill promised border and interior enforcement for a one-time amnesty.
The establishment had no intention of ever securing the border or enforcing the laws.
The illegal alien inundation was intentional and bipartisan.
They had US in a box voting for amnesty candidate D or amnesty candidate R with no hope of keeping our country.
Trump promised US he would stop the invasion of our country by fraudulently documented foreigners.
That is why he won.
This is the most bizarre theory I’ve seen yet!
These guys are trying to lower the river. They’re looking for excuses in all the wrong places.
They need to just admit they ran a klutz.
The elites hate us.
They just can’t that up front so they cloak their contempt in studies like this.
And it gives it all such an objective, indeed compassionate, feel.
In my lifetime, only 2 one termers who were elected to the position... Both lost because of the economy. America doesn’t change course on an Presidency other than the Economy...
And only 1 time in my lifetime has the party held the white house for a third term... and that too was based on the ECONOMY more than anything else.
Short of a complete economic collapse, or the voters perceiving Trump no longer puts America First... he is going to win 2020 handily... won’t even be a contest.
The Dem Presidential candidates purpose is just to get the base engaged, so they don’t get wiped out down ballot... short of one of those things... Trump wins 2020 handily.
Meanwhile all those diverse, over-educated ‘Rats and RINOs are turning Upstate NY into a wasteland.
Three guesses why Upstate went for Trump.
The longer they view rural Americans as low information low education voters the longer they will be out of office
Went yesterday to drop some things at the Salvation Army....the ole guy helping me said, with a smile...”I see you have a Trump sticker”....this is in Western Oregon, the place people think is total commie...let me tell you, it isn’t.
That was my first reaction, as well (”depths” not “deaths”).
OTOH, it is exciting that all these pundits are finding endless “reasons” that Trump won, with detailed analyses, etc. This tells me that they still do not understand, which is helpful to us going forward.
“Possibly”, but not “certainly”.
“White Americans from rural America, with less education and lower income levels, voted disproportionately for Trump”
aaaaand african-americans voted almost exclusively for hillary and obama ... so exactly what’s the correct conclusion here?
It was no surprise the Establishment at McCain's funeral jumped from their seats and applauded... America HAS ALWAYS BEEN GREAT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE LAWS - LAWS THAT GIVE THEM THE EDGE, THE CASH AND THE ADVANTAGE.
It was the rest of us who were suffering.
The people who don't have a voice in the DC drawing rooms of the corrupt ‘elites’... the ‘deplorables’ who lived outside of Washington.. the people fed the empty promises while the elites gave themselves the best - we were living in an America that needed to be made great again...
I think might be missing part of the point here. Life expectancy for obvious reasons is a very good proxy for how well people are doing generally and it had been rising continually across all groups geographies and time frames in America. In the last few years it turned negative for middle American whites. The status quo was literally killing them. So they were primed to accept some serious disruption. Their lives literally depended on it.
“Deaths”…caused by alcoholism, drug use (opioids), and suicides
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.