Indications From The Conference Board

In the end, the wall that mattered most in the U.S. election wasn't the one Donald Trump promised to build on the Mexican border, but the one he demolished around the Great Lakes. For a generation, a Blue Wall of working-class voters gave Democrats an edge in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and competitive in Ohio and Iowa. This year, demographics and the long-term decline of manufacturing finally caught up to presidential politics. In a discussion spanning across trade, automation, training, and the pride of work, economists Ken Goldstein, Brian Schaitkin, and Diane Lim zero in on the areas where Trump dramatically over-performed pre-election polls. What does his success in these regions reveal about longer-term changes in jobs and markets? How does it fit in with the national picture? More importantly, is there anything Trump's administration—and the private sector—can do to really address the anxieties and dislocation that fueled his victory?