As the election comes to a close, Trump is depending heavily on the working class for a win. Trump’s entire campaign rhetoric, that has been aimed at the working class, can be summed up in one sentence from a rally in New Hampshire: “Tomorrow, the American working class will strike back.” Trump’s rhetoric is all about making the working class believe the establishment is at fault for their suffering and that only he can fix it. His rhetoric seems to be working, but what is interesting is that him and President Obama “might have something in common.”

In 2008, President Obama was arguing for change and taking the anti-establishment route…sound familiar? Trump has motivated his base by blaming the establishment and asking for change. Both 2008 and 2016 are “change elections” and it seems to not matter what party argues this stance. The working class is a valuable group of voters, because it seems like they are often left out and hurt most by the decisions in D.C.. President Obama tried appealing to this group in 2008, but was not even as close to successful as Trump. But why?

Trump not only poses as an outsider, but is one. Fighting the establishment is easier when you aren’t part of it. When Trump says things like “the American working class will strike back,” he is telling them that they have the power. This has all successfully moved this group into action, something that was not very successful by either party in 2008 or 2012. But the question all comes down to how many votes will this actually bring in and will it override the Hispanic vote that Clinton has received?

No matter the outcome, Trump’s rhetoric has rallied and activated a class that probably won’t quiet down after the results come in today. Who will be the next person to lead these voters?

 

Ohio, as always, seems to be the place to be in the last few weeks of an election. With Clinton’s campaign trying to stop the bleeding from the new email discovery, Trump has had room to keep calm and make the argument he wants, and he does this in Ohio. During the first debate, Clinton was able to portray this image of her being President of the United States. Trump followed suit this week in Ohio by using the future tense in his rhetoric which seems to be a good tactic to encourage hope with his working class voters.

Many times during a rally in Ohio, which Trump showed up an hour late to though none of his supporters minded, Trump kept changing “If I’m elected…” to “When I’m elected…” and this seemed to rally the crowd. The working class is a large component of the electorate in Ohio and this positive rhetoric worked the way it did back in the primaries. The rally in Ohio was meant for the working class, not just because of its use of a more positive future tense, but because of its content. Trump made sure to discuss certain companies that moved to Mexico and talked about Clinton’s “inadequacy.” He also talked about Mexico and the wall: “And yes, we will build a wall…and Mexico will pay for the wall.” Trump recognized that this rally was his typical “Trump rally” and understood his working class audience well enough to say all the right things. But he made sure to say all the right things in a more hopeful and positive light.

What was interesting, was that during this rally, Trump did not discuss much about voting down the ballot, but Pence sure did. With the rally looking like it was composed of working class voters, someone had to have the goal of encouraging other votes besides one for Trump. Trump, as usual, wanted to spark his audience, which he did, while Pence had a surrogate’s job. Trump utilized a future (and hopeful) tense in portraying his win and went on to discuss popular working class issues which kept his base, but did it get him anymore votes?

The stereotypical working-class voter is someone we all imagine wearing jeans, working boots and a t-shirt. Donald Trump is a business man who is always seen in a very sharp suit and what is unusual, is that his main base are those jean-wearing working class voters. Trump is the wealthy, suit-wearing man, much unlike the group he has recruited strongly during this campaign.

The Republican Party has used Reagan as a rhetorical strategy, as something a candidate aims to be and represent. Reagan appeared to wear clothes that represented the “average American voters” to appear more on their level, a technique continued by more recent presidents like President Obama. As Trump has not been the usual candidate, it is not that unusual that he is not following the “presidential love of denim.” With such a large part of Trump’s rhetoric being towards and all for the working class, showing a similarity, like jeans, would be expected. It has not seem to matter, seeing as his base is still the working class, with the suit and all.

While the working class is swayed by the rhetoric Trump utilizes about immigration, trade policy and the economy, the suit technique does not seem to matter. With social media being such a large part of campaigns these days, images and nonverbal components of the candidates play a larger part in their campaigns. Murray in a chapter on political gaffes said that “audiences now see” the politicians and it just adds to the actual verbal communication. Seeing that articles have been written on the attire of presidential candidates is one example of this.

Though Trump’s suit might put more between him and the working class, the suit could make him appear more as a business man than a politician. This could set him apart from the usual establishment and continue his anti-establishment rhetoric. While one would usually argue that the non-jeans route would not help a candidate with the working class, Trump has had such a strong rhetorical strategy with important topics that jeans might not be necessary and might be helpful in the end.

 

The only image of Donald Trump in jeans…playing volleyball.

While Donald Trump has been standing up for himself and fighting back against the Access Hollywood tape and the aftermath, he has changed the topic to bring back his base and resume his campaign. Trump has been bringing the topic of discussion back to causes that matter to the working class and has been doing so by utilizing the term “Clinton Machine” to point the finger of blame to Clinton.

The Democrats have a corrupt political machine pushing crooked Hillary Clinton. We have Paul Ryan, always fighting the Republican nominee!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

The working class voters care about immigration and trade because that is where they are suffering in this day and age. In a speech in Florida, Trump said “Just look at what this corrupt establishment has done to our cities like Detroit and Flint, Michigan – and rural towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina” which not just highlighted the problems that mattered to these working class voters, but pointed straight to battleground states. What Trump did next was bring it full circle to the Clinton Machine and saying that it “is at the center of this power structure” and is pitting the “economy against the working class.” By turning the tables to topics that matter to his base and giving them a person to hate, Trump took the discussion off of his scandal and spoke of the wrongdoings of Clinton. He spoke of everything she has done against the working class, how she has control of the media and even mentioned the WikiLeaks in great detail.

By shifting the topic to not just how Clinton works against the working class, but how she has complete control and is in the hands of even bigger players, Trump is speaking to his working class voters once again and seems to have gained back his support. Though this seems to be working at the moment, seeing as Republican support has inched back to him, it is also leading to a few laughs with the help of Stephen Colbert (video below).

 

A study was released this year about the language used by political candidates and placing it on a grade level. While most politicians utilized language that was around 6th to 8th grade level and having speeches at mainly an 8th grade level, Donald Trump was just below that and his speeches climbed to a 7th grade level. Who knows if Trump is trying to speak at a lower than average grade level, but it is appealing to his working class voters.

The Washington Post stated that “more than 40 percent of Americans have only basic literacy skills,” and Trump is directly speaking to these citizens on a level they can understand and relate to. Many statistics have shown that the working class is usually less educated than other sects of the socioeconomic strata, meaning that they can easily interpret Trump’s language. Clinton and Sanders, during the primary, used higher vocabulary in their speeches, relative to Trump, probably alienating the working class in the process. Trump’s rhetoric is not just appealing to the working class, but is being understood by them and generating their support. Trump’s tactics, intentionally or not, are smart, seeing as most voters prefer a simpler vernacular from their politicians.

While Trump’s language is usually easily understood, there are sometimes when his rhetoric becomes “incomprehensible.” However, because it focuses on feelings over ideas, he is still rallying up the working class. During a speech in Nevada, Trump said that “I love the poorly educated” and his rhetoric of “basic and repetitive” phrases support this claim. Donald Trump has gained the support of the working class during most of this campaign cycle. It has been thought that it is because his arguments, like talking about the wall or bringing jobs back, but it just might also be that the working class both understands what his language and then likes his points.

CNN polls have showed about 60% of white working class voters are for Trump, but why? Donald Trump has utilized his slogan “Make America Great Again” to infiltrate as many different voter bases as possible, but it has been like a sermon to the working class, making them have faith and putting them to work. When saying “Make America Great Again” he discusses how that will be done through trade policies and bringing jobs back…everything the working class wants to hear.

During the first presidential debate, Trump turned a conversation about how we wants to create tax cuts for the wealthy into how that will bring jobs back to the working class. Tax cuts for the wealthy would usually not be a hot topic with the working class, but by discussing how it will bring jobs back from overseas, he is pleasing that class and making Secretary Clinton look like a worse choice: “And if you really look, it’s not a tax — it’s really not a great thing for the wealthy…It’s a great thing for companies to expand.” 

The working class has faith in Trump to “Make America Great Again” because “he’ll bring the jobs back” and such people as “mill hunkies hear a promise to restore their pride and their way of life”. When a debate went down in Youngstown, Ohio, an advocate of Trump clearly stated his support: “You think America is great? Come look for a job in Youngstown” . Trump’s slogan is speaking to each individual in a unique fashion, but to the working class as a group, it is meaning jobs, jobs and more jobs.