Pocketbook voters flocked to Trump, Sanders

DES MOINES - Unemployment rates in Iowa and across the country have dropped, and Wall Street has rebounded.

By those and other measures, the economy has recovered from the 2008 recession.

But many in the working class are not feeling much better financially. Wages have not risen, and wealth continues to flow mostly to the richest Americans.

That sustained economic discontent may be driving some voters' choices in the presidential election, and may have helped give rise to the disruptive candidacies of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders.

In their unique ways, Trump and Sanders tapped into voters' economic angst. Trump assures people he will stop illegal immigration, which he says has driven down wages, and negotiate better international trade deals.

Sanders - who has indicated he will compete in Tuesday's primary in Washington, D.C., even though former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tied up the nomination - says the country must develop policies that give middle-class workers a bigger slice of the economic pie.

'I think a lot of people are still hurting from the Wall Street crash in 2008 and the housing bubble bursting,” said Don Paulson, co-chairman of the Muscatine County Democratic Party. 'That message has stuck with them. I can understand that.”

Again and again, primary voters who were most worried about the economy told pollsters that they had cast their ballots for Trump or Sanders, according to Edison Research, which conducted the surveys on behalf of the Associated Press and television networks.

A dozen Iowa counties went for both Trump and Sanders in the Iowa precinct caucuses, the kickoff of the country's presidential nominating contest. Clinton, Muscatine and Tama counties were among them.

Paulson lost his job when Mars Petcare closed its Muscatine plant in 2008, at the height of the recession, eliminating 47 jobs. A retirement package and the revelation that he contracted Lyme disease led Paulson to retire shortly after.

Muscatine County has enjoyed some job growth since the recession, experiencing a 9.4 percent growth in employment between 2010 and 2014. But, Paulson said, the economic recovery does not feel full to workers.

'I think in a lot of places, it's a little better, but the wages aren't keeping up to get people drawn up to a better lifestyle,” said Paulson, who is now 63. 'I don't think wages have recovered since.”

Paulson said he caucused for Sanders after originally supporting Martin O'Malley, who was not viable in his precinct.

‘Suspect' economy?

Ted Marolf, a 63-year-old sales manager from Wilton and a Republican voter who supports Trump, said he sees those same economic issues for workers.

'I've done OK,” Marolf said. 'But I can see in my line of work,, I guess you could call it (the economy) sluggish or stagnant or disappointing.”

Some key economic indicators suggest the economy is healthy - Iowa's unemployment rate, for example, is 3.7 percent, down from a high of 6.6 percent in 2009, according to state and federal statistics.

But incomes for the average U.S. household ticked up just 0.7 percent from 2008 to 2014, after taking inflation into account. And even that scant increase reflected mainly the rise in income for the richest 10th of households, which pulled up the average.

For most others, incomes actually decreased, as much as 6 percent for the bottom 20 percent, at a time when the economy was mostly recovering.

Fred Grunder, chairman of the Muscatine County Republican Party, said he also sees wage stagnation as a problem.

Grunder has worked at HWH Corp. in Moscow, Iowa, which makes hydraulic jacks for recreational vehicles and trailers, for more than 30 years. He said workers there are starting to see raises again, but some had gone up to five years without one.

Grunder said HWH experienced job losses when the recession decimated the RV industry. The company had roughly 600 employees before the recession, and today it has fewer than half that, he added.

He also said the company now has some openings it has a difficult time filling.

Grunder owns an apartment building in Wilton, where he has not raised the rent for at least five years, he said.

'The economy, although maybe it feels good to a lot of people, I think it's really suspect,” he said. 'And it could take a nose dive. As easy as it could be good, it could be bad. And the wrong person in the White House doing the wrong thing is going to tip that scale.”

Many primary voters thought the right person in the White House would be Trump or Sanders.

Sanders will not land in the White House, but his message of economic equality left an indelible impression on the Democratic race.

And Trump continues to appeal to working-class voters with claims that he can be the greatest job-creating president the country has ever known.

'You need somebody that can fix the private sector. That's what Donald Trump seems to be able to convey,” said Grunder, who supported Carly Fiorina in the caucuses but said Trump was his second choice. 'Whether he can or not, I don't know.”