West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, Ohioとそれより北のRust Beltでは、blue-collar workers が働いた工場や炭坑が閉鎖されていました。怒りを管理職、政府、無力だった労働者組合に向けても、どうしようもない。では、どこで働くか？ 近くには同様の職場は無く、新しい仕事を他の地域で得ようとしても、工場は海外に移転しているかオートメーション化されています。結局仕事はありません。では、生活保護を受けるしかないと絶望感で溢れ、誇りが消え、場合によってはドラッグに手を出すことになってしまう。
それで "I am your voice!"と言っている大統領候補が出てきます。「もう、今まで国会も、政治も、オバマも、何もやってくれなかったから、何でもいい。トランプに一票」ということになったのだと思います。
Blue-collar workers in the factories and mines of West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, Ohio and the other Rust Belt cities to the north, found little support when their workplaces closed permanently. They were angry at the company management, the government and the powerless unions, but no one could do anything about jobs that disappeared. Where else could they work? There were no similar jobs nearby; it was futile to go looking for a new type of job in a completely different place; and automation was taking over a lot of work. With no work, they had to swallow their pride and go on welfare. They lost all sense of hope for the future and pride from a job well done. Some even took up drugs.
Then along came someone saying “I am your voice!” and he’s running for president. They responded to this. The government had not helped them, nor the politicians, nor President Obama, as far as they could tell. “Anything is better than this!” they seemed to say. “So I’m voting for Trump. At least he’s different from everybody else.”