Economics of Trump's Appeal

If you were confused at why the South went so big on Trump over somone like the more "evangelically-on-point" Cruz, this article helps explain some. I believe a presidential election helps show more clearly the pulse of a nation and the makeup and interests of its cultures/economies/social statuses than does its more local congressional or even local elections. And this election season has been quite the ride.

Perhaps even more importantly, data like this, when juxtaposed against the economies of local churches in areas like the South, would make one question whether or not the rise of Trump is not, as one would believe, the fault of the media, but the failures of an unfeeling, inward-focused church.

It could also explain why Trump has been so popular among "evangelicals" who, at least from a cursory look around me, tend to fall into the middle-class who don't feel as strongly the effect of these things. This feels ironic: While Trump allows people to feel outraged at the immigrant "stealing our job" or the economy-taxing policies of liberal government, or the economic disparity of the nation, he also represents conservative economic and "moral" values that typically don't represent those in the lower social classes as well. And so, both the haves and the have-nots find some sort of champion in Trump.

Trump is nothing if he isn't a shrewd message-crafter.