I’m not one to give five stars to many things – probably the Midwesterner in me that thinks there is always room for improvement. But this is not just a really, really good book, it’s an IMPORTANT one, and thereby deserves that extra star.
The authors have done an impressive amount of research that has included not just polling, surveys, and analyzing numbers, but getting out into the country to truly comprehend what happened on Election Night 2016. The authors allowed voters to tell their own stories, in their own words, with no other agenda than to understand motivations and thought processes. Coupling these real-life people to the data the authors uncovered, they tell a compelling story and present a holistic view of what led to the election of President Trump.
I would suggest that this is a must-read for anyone who is a pundit or political professional, and who got it wrong going into Election Day (raises hand high). It’s a must-read for the armchair pundit, who binges on Fox News or MSNBC all day. It’s a must-read for those who live on the coasts, and think of many of these states as “fly-over” country. For those that think that “if only these people were better educated, they never would have voted for him,” I humbly suggest you read this book and get to “know” these people, their backgrounds, before insulting them in that way.
One statistic that jumped out at me was this, from the book:
“The Pew Research Center’s poll one week out from Election Day found that ‘Clinton backers… have more difficulty respecting Trump supporters than the other way around.’”
Fifty-eight percent of Clinton’s backers agreed with the statement “I have a hard time respecting someone who supports Donald Trump for president,” while only 40 percent of Trump voters said the same of her supporters.”
These stories, and the data that backs them up, shine a spotlight on the growing – and hardening – divide in the U.S. It is up to all of us, no matter who we voted for, to try to break down these divisions before it’s too late.
This book isn’t about red or blue, not really. It’s about trying to help Americans understand their own countrymen. If you still “don’t get how this could have happened,” give this book a read. It really does explain it.
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Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on June 8, 2018
provided just a plain good read. Most enjoyable
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J. RuppReviewed in Germany on February 28, 2019
Die realen Wähler von Donald Trump
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- A GrahamReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2020
Interesting and based on actual meetings with Mid Westvoters
