They been there alright, but never this energized. Now they've got their own in Trump. And they are turning in record numbers including democracts and independent leaning redneck for The Donald Tramp.
If you look at record turn out of these guys in primaries and in rallies, you should be very worried, that the real majority, the america white non-college graduate working class are intend on voting trump.
Bottomline; every election has it's dynamic. If somebody said Obama would win in 08, he would have been laughed off. Now it's Trump time.
It obvious Trump has a clear path to victory, carry all the white majority states in the south, mid-west, upper and rust belt...and it going to be easy considering Hillary is struggling with same demographisc..and all tramp need is record turn out of white working class folks and few sanders democrats & independents...who do not trust Hillary.
You should read What's the matter with Kansas?. In there you will find the Trumpoid. There is a misleading narrative that they have just walked out of the woodwork because of Trump. They have been there all along, emphatically voting against their interests, in the belief that they are denying black people welfare and government programs.
Trump, with his birther credentials, has merely woken them up from this stupidity and now they don't need the Republican establishment or so they think. But who else will join them? That is Trump's dilemma.
Yes, there are dynamics by which Trump, based on white votes, can win. US politics are interesting with many possibilities and forces in play. But I still think the angry white working class approach is far-fetched.
It comes down to the dynamic I mention earlier, where this white vote is in Blue states and must somehow overcome its usual percentages, enough to tip some delegate rich blue states to Republican. But it assumes that the anti-trump voters are not as energized to stop him.
Union workers, in the industrial Midwest are notoriously difficult to turn against Democrats; they vote like Luos on automatic for Raila. And they turn out to protect their turf; Trump can only count on this demographic in a fantastic way. They will not fall for his anti-establishment appeal.
In 08 Obama had an advantage among young white voters who voted in unprecedented numbers; most of this group, by its nature, the most anti-trump (matched only by Hispanics), is now in the Sandernista column; you saw some of them in Chicago; they can be energized to turn out just to stop Trump. While there might be some convergence in the anti-establishment bent, everything else shows Trump can never count on Bernie Sanders supporters and liberals in general.
He obviously has the South locked down; likely the delegate poor heartland too, minus Iowa. Indiana is not far-fetched; he should get that one. Ohio there is a question-mark. He could not crack it against Kasich in a primary. It's the most important swing state in play and Kasich's win there suggests no appetite for an insurgency.
He cannot win Minnesota. Wisconsin, is usually a good Republican state mid-terms, but terrible in the general; he might entertain some ideas but not anymore than any regular Republican. He needs the Industrial Midwest and
some more. The point is Trump is viewed negatively enough by independents to the point that Rubio and Ted Cruz would actually fair better in a general; curiously the same thing actually applies to Hillary too..