I had a discussion this morning with a Trump supporter. My goal, of course, was to get her to switch her support to the Democratic candidate. This woman is very poor, living on Social Security supplemented by cleaning houses a day or two a week — my maid, in other words. Mostly she does volunteer work for her church. She can hardly pay her rent, and walks to work as she can’t afford a car. She has three main political issues.
First, direct competition from illegal Mexican immigrants for her work. There is no question that illegal immigrants working under the table directly compete for her housecleaning jobs. She wants a wall, or whatever it takes to keep the competition out. She doesn’t have a problem with legal, tax-paying immigrants. What is the argument I can make to convince her that the Democrat is the better candidate on this issue?
Her second issue is health care. Sure, she has “Obamacare”, and hates it. She can’t afford the co-pays that she must come up with to actually get healthcare. Last week her co-pays for three doctor visits cost $150, which broke her. She can’t afford the medicine she needs. Trump supports single payer, not “universal coverage” that requires she buy insurance and still pay for whatever she needs. Yes, she knows Sanders is a better bet for single payer and in earlier conversations I was able to convince her that Sanders was the best candidate for her, but how do I convince her that Clinton is the better choice in this case, since she wants to simply continue the ACA?
The third issue is free trade. She used to work in a factory, and lost her job after NAFTA when it was shipped off to Mexico. She already blames President Clinton for costing her a pension and any opportunity for employment, as she was too old for anyone else to want to hire her. How do I convince her that Clinton will be better than Trump for bringing factories back to the U.S.? (Obviously she will not be getting a factory job, but she is concerned for her son and others.)
You may know I’m an all-in Sanders supporter, but this is not a “concern” diary — she’ll be working here all day and I really DO want to convince her not to vote for Trump in as critical a swing state as Florida! She DOES care a lot for others, spending most of her time volunteering at a food pantry for the homeless. And she has a lot of friends she could influence. Help me, please!