Colton Weaver, a 37-year-old mechanic from Beaumont, Texas, is exactly the kind of voter who made Donald Trump president.
On Tuesday, he is voting for a Democrat.
'I think it's time for some changes from what we have now, and I think we need to hurry up and get them done,' he told the Daily Mail.
He is not alone.
Exit polls show Trump won about two-thirds of white voters without a college degree in each of his three runs. Now, a New York Times poll finds fewer than half of them approve of the job he's doing.
The blue-collar coalition that powered him to the White House in 2016, and stuck with him through 2020 and 2024, may finally be breaking.
There is widespread anger over the economy and the cost of living, largely driven by the forever-lingering war with Iran.
And there is fury, too, including among those on the MAGA right, over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, encapsulated by the podcaster Joe Rogan who called it 'a line in the sand' and accused the administration of 'trying to gaslight' the electorate.
President Trump's support among white working class voters has fallen and could impact the midterms
Dwight Phillips, a working class voter in Macomb County, said he was voting for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed
Jeff Borja, a retired history teacher also in Macomb County, voted for Trump in 2016 but is now throwing his support behind El-Sayed
Democrats believe the Epstein issue is resonating with working-class voters and in Kansas launched ads accusing Republican senator Roger Marshall of 'protecting pedophiles' with his votes in Congress, and being a member of the 'Epstein class.'
In Florida, they spent big running a 30-second ad during Game 3 of the World Series, featuring an Epstein survivor accusing Republican Senator Ashley Moody of 'voting to protect the man who abused me.'
One vital of Trump's remaining clout amid the white working class will be in Michigan's Macomb County.
It was there that the 'Reagan Democrats' phenomenon was born – white working class voters who abandoned the traditional support they had shown for Democratic candidates since the 1930s and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
Dwight Phillips, a working class voter in Macomb County, said he was voting for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
'People are tired of the same old story,' he told the Daily Mail. 'They're tired of Trump. People hate Trump, not just disliking, hating, and they want to see new ideas like Medicare for all.
Jeff Borja, a retired history teacher also in Macomb County, voted for Trump in 2016 but is now throwing his support behind El-Sayed.
'I didn't like what he did in his first term,' Borja, 59, said of Trump, pointing specifically to the lack of a peaceful transfer of power in 2020. 'To me, that was embarrassing.'
Now, Borja is strictly voting on policy. He views El-Sayed as the candidate focused on domestic economic relief and sharply criticizes Republican economic proposals.
'The only people that suffer from tariffs are the citizens of this country,' Borja noted.
Macomb County, Michigan, is where the 'Reagan Democrats' phenomenon was born
Voters in Michigan tell the Daily Mail that they're voting for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed
Former President Barack Obama rallied on behalf of Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit last weekend
President Trump speaks at a campaign rally this week in the lead-up to the elections
In Sedgwick County, a key electoral area of Kansas, a deep red state where the Senate race is now a toss-up, the biggest issue for white working class men was affordability.
Read More
EXCLUSIVE Damning video reveals vulgar rant of MAGA star Joe Mitchell, then-19, about 'black women'
It came up again and again.
Damien Gilbert, a 32-year-old union carpenter said his friends can no longer afford their lives.
'Everything is just getting more expensive, especially with this ridiculous war of choice. Now we can't afford gas. Food keeps getting more expensive.'
It's a sentiment replicated across the Midwest.
'I'm a fast food worker, and I haven't seen a raise in a year and a half,' said Cody, a 32-year-old looking for work in Dayton, Ohio.
'I'm overqualified. It's like there's no real chance. Yeah, it's hard for people to make it like an honest living.'
'I'm a fast food worker, and I haven't seen a raise in a year and a half,' said Cody, a 32-year-old looking for work in Ohio Tariffs are a big part of the frustration.
Trump initially surfed a wave of anger in the industrial heartlands about the loss of manufacturing in the aftermath of NAFTA, President Bill Clinton's North American Free Trade Agreement.
In his second term, blue collar workers backed Trump believing tariffs would bring jobs back.
Read More
Which midterm races should YOU be watching? Enter your zip code in our exclusive election calculator
But that faith has collapsed, with support plummeting 25 percentage points among blue-collar workers, according to the State of the American Worker Survey compiled by Echelon Insights.
Now, just 36 percent back Trump on tariffs, while 58 percent are against them.
More than two-thirds of blue-collar workers believe tariffs have increased the cost of living for them, according to the survey.
Trump disillusion is far from universal.
'What everyone around me says is, we love Trump,' said John Foret, 35, an electrician in Jefferson County, Texas, who's spent eight years in the oil and gas industry.
Foret says former President Joe Biden 'just didn't care' about blue collar workers, and that sentiment will prevent some from crossing into the Democratic column.
'I did the math, I don't know the exact numbers (but) it seems like I have more money in my pocket, or they're working toward me having more money in my pocket,' Foret claimed.
Josh and Stephanie spoke with the Daily Mail ahead of Election Day on Tuesday
Daily Mail spoke to voters during a Halloween block party in Dayton's Oregon District, many who are unhappy with the current cost of living
'Trump, in my eyes, seems to support the blue-collar worker and the men and women in this world who go out and make a living with their hands,' he added.
This belief has pushed him into the column for Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Senate candidate in Texas who is depending on the Trump coalition to drag him over the finish line against Democrat James Talarico.
At his final rally in Texas last week, before a largely male crowd Trump pitched 'free oil' from Venezuela promising it would come at zero cost. But it hasn't had a dramatic impact on fuel prices, at least not yet.
Some Republican strategists have questioned Trump's rallying spree, suggesting his presence could put off independents.
But the White House is betting the math is on its side and that Trump can still inspire slightly disillusioned white working class males to the polls.
In every one of the key Senate races, non-college educated voters are expected to make up over half the votes.
That is even though the proportion of college-educated voters tends to be about five points higher in midterms than in presidential elections.
Trump is supporting Ken Paxton for the Senate in Texas in a tight race in the traditionally red state
Texas Democratic candidate James Talarico has a lot of momentum heading into Tuesday's election
But Trump's approval is now at a record low - just 36 percent in the most recent New York Times survey.
That leaves Republicans more reliant than ever on the white working class contingent, which are wavering.
Maine voter James Cox, 38, who voted Republican in the past, told the Daily Mail that the Iran war has him second guessing his GOP support.
'I want somebody who wants to stop the Iran war because it is impacting everybody here,' he said. 'It's impacting everybody at the gas tank. It's doubled over the past few months. It's craziness. Everything's just more expensive.'
But Trump has reportedly considered more strikes on Iran, potentially just after the midterm elections. His messaging on the war's end has been muddled at best.
The White House sees a completely different economic picture.
It argues it has produced more job growth than the Biden administration and that inflation-inflation-adjusted wages in blue-collar manufacturing jobs are up on average $2,400 per year.
'Wages are rising faster than inflation, domestic manufacturing is expanding, and the blue-collar jobs lost under the Biden Administration are rightly returning back to US soil,' reads a White House statement.
President Trump has rallied supporters to get them to the polls in the midterms
Workers have shifted their support against tariffs, according to polling
Trump still has the support of many blue-collar workers and the White House says his economic policies are unleashing a 'golden age'
But blaming Biden, who has been out of office for nearly two years, may not sell with voters who are desperately looking for a lifeline out of economic malaise.
Economics Jordan McGillis and John Lettieri of the Economic Innovation Group put it bluntly in their analysis.
On the cost of living, the issue workers care about most, they wrote, 'workers say the president's policies have made their problems worse.'
'It's the cost of living, stupid. Always was.'
Source link
