I had a political discussion with the woman who cleans my house today. She and her husband, a welder, were hard hit by the Great Recession. He lost his job as did she. They were out of work for oabout two years, although she had a few cleaning jobs and they finally declared bankruptcy. They had no health insurance she neglected an ear infection that went systemic and caused all kinds of health problems to the point she ended up in the ER. She’s still not 100% better.
His new job pays a lot less and he hasn’t had a raise since he started several years ago. She’s picked up a few more cleaning jobs but not her steady hotel cleaning work she had. People cancel on her so it’s not a steady income (I never do and am flexible when she calls me to change the day she’s coming). They live in a mobile home that needs a new roof and probably other repairs they can’t afford.
Her husband voted for trump and she stayed home. She knows trump will be bad but she couldn’t bring herself to vote for Clinton. He wouldn’t vote for Clinton because of NAFTA. He believes he lost his job and had to declare bankruptcy because of NAFTA. According to her, it’s the bankruptcy that bothers him more than losing the job. It’s his pride that was wounded and he’s not about to forgive that.
They tried to get insurance from the ACA when it first passed but since he was behind in his child support due to the job loss, they didn’t qualify for the subsidy so they didn’t get insurance. They are bitter about that and very anti ACA. They have a crappy policy now from his employer that they co pay a lot for. It’s something. I didn’t know that being arrears in child support would bar a subsidy for healthcare. In short, they don’t think the Democrats did anything for them.
I know trump won’t do squat to help their situation and will probably make it worse. But I am simply reporting what I heard from low income white middle age woman in suburban Detroit. They just want a fair deal and I don’t think the Democrats did a good job of getting their message out.