A recent Wall Street Journal feature article regarding “America's Factory Towns” announced in its lede that “the Republican Party has become the party of blue-collar America.”
Not only is the article's thesis highly misleading, it uses cherry-picked examples to buttress its assertions.
The article first defines “manufacturing intensive counties” to be the 862 U.S. counties which in 1992 had at least 25 percent manufacturing employment. It goes on to note that 20 of these counties' previously Democratic congressional seats are now held by Republicans, a shift of 15 seats over the last quarter of a century. This shift “helps explain Donald Trump's political success … and will help shape this year's midterm elections.”
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