Is Ohio still a swing state?

[Reaganfan]

That depends on the actions of the Democratic Party. Ohio voters are not partisan Republicans or even necessarily inclined to Republican policies - especially economic ones. The question is whether Democrats are willing to embrace an economic message that appeals to the concerns of financially stressed Ohio voters. They will not win the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton suburbs, nor the Ohio countryside, but they can reclaim voters in northern and eastern Ohio that failed to turn out for Clinton or switched to Trump. Youngstown, Canton, Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, and Steubenville and their surrounding areas should be easy targets for Democrats.

It's very late for that, if not too late. The white people in these areas have developed a tribalistic attachment to Trump. He is "one of us". The smug, professional white collar class in the coasts are the enemy. Merely offering slightly better policies is going to struggle to detach them from that identity.

Anytime I see claims of White people voting for Trump en masse because of racism/xenophobia/etc... I automatically tune out. Those are excuses employed by an establishment unwilling to address their fundamental economic failures. If you claim Joe Ohio Voter is a Trump voter simply because he is a bigot, you erase any need to reorient your economic agenda because that does not matter, he will supposedly vote against you anyway.

These places voted for Obama in 2008 and many of them for him in 2012 as well. This does not mean they are not bigots, but it does indicate they are willing to put bigotry aside for economic self-preservation. Obviously, Clinton and the Democrats under Obama did not offer that to them. So, they defected to an "outsider" that employed populist rhetoric to mask his elitist agenda.

Brah, if these people thought Trump had an elitist agenda, they wouldn't have voted for him. They don't think like you do. If you went to these places, you'd be wringing your hands and begging them, "But-but-but he's against your interests! Can't you see now?" The problem is you see everything through a far left lens.

What you don't get is that these voters love Trump. It's not like their support (to the extent they did) of Obama at all. That was limp. That was, "it's either him or Romney, who I really hate, so meh, sure I guess." Trump's different. This is them painting their entire houses for Trump. This them ordering 5,000 yard signs for him. This is house after house with not a regular yard sign, but a huge, almost billboard-size sign for him. You drive down these places and it's every single house. This is them driving down Kentucky as a military convoy with a huge Trump sign in front. This is them rigging up a crane with a Trump sign so every driver by on a bridge across the Schuylkill river can see it. He's not just their rock star, he's one of them. Jesus Christ himself could come down from the heavens and many of them still would not be pried away. Mark my words.

No doubt those people exist in the millions. In fact, my father was one of them. Yard signs, a flag, stickers on his car, a plate on his car, a shrine in the house, Trump hats and pins galore. I know all about it. However, he was also a Republican partisan, an avid watcher of FOX News, and daily listener of Rush, Herman Cain, and Hannity. The people who were that dedicated to Trump were not Democrats or former Obama voters; they were people who were already consistently voting Republican. For them, yes, he is "one of them" and they adore his policies of "build that wall," targeting Muslims, and scapegoating minorities.

The problem is that I was not referring to those voters. I was referring to the people disappointed with Obama's policies and economy, disliked Clinton and/or the current Democratic Party, and voted for Trump instead.

This is why I couldn't imagine Trump losing. I followed the polls (somewhat) and had Hillary winning 278-260, but my gut kept telling me "How the hell can he not be winning this election?"

Should have predicted my gut. But to a much lesser extent, Romney had lots of white voter excitement in October 2012 and that meant nothing. I think without Romney's surge in Oct 2012, many more would have predicted a Trump victory since he had the momentum.