I was actually talking to one of my closest friends last night about this. He's a working class guy, his family isn't all that great financially (there's periodic drama whenever he picks up his grandmother's medication and it costs just a few dollars more than normal.) and he's always working additional jobs over the weekends to try and make ends meat.
Another friend and I have been concerned about talking about this election with him, we're both Bernie supporters, and were worried because this friend, we'll call him Bob for clarity's sake, has always held rather, interesting, political beliefs and we were concerned he'd be for Trump, who both me and my other friend aren't really interested in seeing as President. Ever.
Well last night he came over and brought up this election in front of my wife and I. We were initially worried he'd start going on about Trump being what this country needs, but he surprised us and was actually staunchly in the Bernie camp. Then he dropped it on us that if Hillary got the nomination instead of Bernie, he'd vote for Trump. We were definitely shocked. But I actually decided to engage him about it, and try to understand where he was coming from.
Bob, as we're calling him, is of a demographic that I think often gets overlooked in political discussions. Where as lots of talk of Minorities and Women pop up, and Hillary often harps on (for the better) we rarely hear her and other politicians address the near poverty level white men of this country. Now that's not to say I think they're being forgotten, or are more important than the race and sex issues this country faces, but to him, someone who isn't the stereotypical middle class white man, It stings hearing how minorities and women are being put on a pedestal, and he's become afraid for his livelihood as he worries that they'll begin substituting him and others for minorities, or women, at his job even if they're under qualified compared to him.
It's an ignorant view, sure, but they're his fears, and understandable to an extent when he's already scraping by, and there's this talk of making the work place more equal, when, in his eyes, he's already barely holding on. He sees Hillary as this man hating woman, who'll do whatever she can to screw him over in her efforts to prop women up in the workplace, more than he already is in life. Now I think he's wrong, I don't see Hillary as that at all, but he simply can't or won't trust her. We talked about his issues, his fears, and his beliefs for a good hour. I came to understand that Bernie's rhetoric of income equality, while failing to grab the black vote, really resonates with Bob, not just because income equality and tax changes are appealing to his demographic, but because he hears himself included in there when Bernie talks. By not focusing on minorities and women in his speeches, he's managed to make Bob feel like he's included in Bernie's vision of the future of this country.
When it comes to switching to Trump, it seemed like my friend, Bob, was focused on getting back at Hillary for taking away his preferred candidate. It was clearly vengeful in nature, as he'd already gone on about how stupid Trump is as a choice (and I did convince him it'd probably be better to either abstain from voting, or vote for someone, anyone else, but Trump.) but he could not bring himself to give Hillary his vote no matter what (although he made it a point to say he'd vote for Bill Clinton again if he could, and he agreed he'd probably toss Hillary his vote if Bernie became her VP.)
I didn't think too much about this demographic of Bernie voters before last night's discussion, and I still don't believe they make up a larger portion of Bernie's support like this article claims. But I do believe Bernie is perhaps the best counter we have to Trump, and while I doubt Hillary would lose to Trump in the General, I think Bernie would hold stronger, capturing the minds of other people, like my friend Bob, and convincing them of a different course outside of the establishment then, well, whatever the hell Trump is pushing for.
I don't think my friend is a bad person, or anyone else in his position, and he's actually quite a nice guy, if bit odd sometimes, but I think he feels like he's been forgotten about, something I think anyone can relate to. He doesn't have a problem with minorities, or women, but he does fear that in the efforts to fix things for them, he'll be one who suffers in their stead.
