Blue Collar Women

We spent the night in Superior, a small town on the other side of the river/lake Superior of Duluth, Minnesota, where Bob Dylan was born. We went to see the house where he was born, of course! took this picture to send to our friend Paolo, who is a "Dilanologo".

We had a great time in Dulth where everything is about Dylan. Inside the supermarket they play his music and wherever you got there are his memorabilia.

We got to Superior after a spectacular and long drive from lake Michigan to lake Superior, we crossed villages along the shores of small lakes with beautiful houses and many pro Trump signs all along and just a few Harris signs.

                  Michigan and Wisconsin are key states in this election, they are also blue collar states. The shores of the lakes are still full of docks to ship Minnesota's iron ore but several are closed, abandoned. some are even turned into museums of a glorius industrial past.

In 2016 and in 2020, Wisconsin was the closest state that just barely made the winner the winner. Four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by less than one percentage point of the vote here. This is the tipping point and one of the most unpredictable states. In 2016, many blue collar voters, traditionally democrats, have switched from democrats to republican in support of Trump because they felt abandoned by the party.

                  Before Biden left the race almost everybody was sure Trump would win the state but now it is not so sure. Could Kamala Harris lure away blue collar women voters from Trump?

                  Men are significantly preferring Trump over Harris. Women are significantly preferring Harris over Trump. But the question that we don't know the answer to is does the Harris advantage with women ultimately outweigh the Trump advantage with men? or does it work the other way with Trump solidifying his support with men perhaps more than Harris is able to do with women? Women rank the economy as one of their most important issues and see Trump as better on that issue.

Here is what the Financial Times reported a woman working at Harley Davidson, the largest exporter of the state said about Kamala Harris:

But the fact is that she's been the VP for the past four years. And so it's like, how can I believe that any of this is true or going to happen?

She's trying to appeal to the same blue collar base that Trump is trying to appeal to.

That's what I saw at the DNC. And it's like, how much is this all just a sham, even for both sides. What will you both... now trying to appeal to this blue collar working class idea. And it's like, well, who... are you... how can you say that when Hillary and Bill Clinton are there. Bill Clinton, Nafta cost us millions of manufacturing middle class jobs that are never coming back. It changed society. It changed our country.

What blue collar women think of Kamala Harris's plans to combat inflation. First a ban on price-gouging in the food sector to stop companies making excessive profits.

And here is the answer from a shop keeper:

Nixon used it and it didn't work. I think it lasted for about 90 days. It leads to shortages and businesses closing. It's just a ridiculous plan.

How about $25,000 in down payment funding for first time home-buyers?

That just means that the price of a house is going to go up by $25,000.

At the supermarket a middle-aged woman tells me that if President Trump is elected things will be better.

“Things have changed so much for the worse, in my opinion. Number one, inflation. Back under Trump, I could buy a dozen eggs for $0.59. Now they're $2.50 a dozen. Milk was $2.19 a gallon. Now it's closer to $4.”

Duluth 11 October