( NewsNation ) — Ohio is the epicenter of a seismic shift happening in American politics where the two parties are essentially trading core constituencies when it comes to white voters.
In the state and across America, blue-collar workers are turning red and white-collar college grads are shifting to blue.
Conventional wisdom had long shown that Ohio’s manufacturing base and blue-collar neighborhoods were the bedrock of the Democratic party, while college graduates with high-paying jobs generally voted for Republican platforms, like lower taxes and deregulating business.
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But voters’ attitudes are proving otherwise.
“The city workers, union workers… he (Donald Trump) looks out for us… and he does care,” John Wesolowski, an Ohio Republican said.
Trump’s “America first” policies have scored big in parts of the state, fueling a populism that has upended politics.
Joshua Zingher, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, calls this shift a “diploma divide.”