To understand how political newcomer Donald Trump managed to capture the Republican presidential nomination, and the challenges he faces winning the general election in November, drive an hour south from the glitzy GOP convention in Cleveland to Stark County. Trump lost the county to favorite son Gov. John Kasich, 48% to 38%, in Ohio’s primary in March. But the nominee’s anti-establishment message resonates in this swing county in a swing state. “People are ticked off, and they want change,” says Janet Creighton, a county commissioner and Kasich delegate who now supports Trump. Stark County — home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum and the National First Ladies’ Library — is particularly fertile ground for the GOP candidate’s criticism of trade deals and vows to return jobs to the Rust Belt. The county has lost a third of its manufacturing jobs in the past 15 years. To the extent that those jobs have been replaced, it has been with fast-food and health care jobs with lower pay and stingier benefits. People don’t necessary believe that Trump can bring back those lost jobs — he can’t, and no one can — but many think he’ll make it more difficult and less attractive for employers to move jobs overseas.
Will the Rust Belt ever be great again?
