Economic anxiety is not why Trump was elected.

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

I don't think it was entirely racial resentment, but also regional and intellectual resentment, that Trump effectively utilized. There was undoubtedly a 1920s-esque cultural dislocation feeling among "Middle Americans" that had never disappeared since the '20s but was in full force in 2016; fear of "coastal elites" and the "fake news media" was a driving force behind Trump's election, as was distrust in American universities and higher education. A recent poll of Republicans actually suggested that a majority of the GOP believes that going to college is a net negative for the country. This, plus the racial elements you mentioned, results in a very... "anxious" white rural working class. Trump stoked a feeling of discontent with popular culture and government and turned it into a cult following for himself, one that did not care for precision when it came to facts.

I'm not going to say that no poorer Trump voter was motivated by economic interest, even though I think such individuals were terribly misguided. To be fair, even though I think most of us could see through it, Trump promised lots of respectable positions regarding the social safety net, although it's clear he had absolutely no intention of sticking to those promises. The bigger reason I think some less financially well-off voters gravitated to the Trump, though, was simply discontent with the economy under a two-term Democratic administration, despite the economy being very strong for most of the country; there will forever be some Americans who don't feel the benefits of a strong economy and thus will seek whatever turnover is necessary to achieve those benefits for themselves.

But let's not forget that a majority of poor people in this country are not rural West Virginians, but rather the urban poor. Clinton handily won a majority of people in the lowest income bracket in 2016, and I'm getting a little tired of seeing pundits using the term "working class" to solely refer to the white rural poor, and of seeing pundits consider Trump as the supposed voice for all struggling poor people in this country.