7/30/2023 0 Comments Leaky lifeboat![]() There are good jobs to be had, but not enough skilled workers to fill them. Yet, while the future president pledged to return jobs to the heartland and revive small towns battered by globalization, local leaders see a more complex situation. Trump spoke to are the same challenges these public institutions hope to help their students and communities overcome. The economic and personal struggles that Mr. Here, Indiana State University and Ivy Tech Community College aren’t islands but lifeboats. But the dynamic changes in places with regional public universities and community colleges, like Vigo. In most states, the percentage of voters who favored Hillary Clinton was higher in counties with public flagship universities. Higher education is often portrayed as part of this elite, and college campuses as enclaves of liberal privilege. “I think it was ‘the elites versus the rest of us.’ They wanted to kick some ass, and they saw Trump as the guy to do it.” “I was astonished at the palpable anger they felt,” said Don Campbell, who was filming a documentary about the county. When the Republican candidate showed up here during the campaign, the 1,600-seat theater filled up quickly, and those who couldn’t get in hung around outside. Trump attracted about 2,000 people to a theater in Terre Haute, in a county where voters have almost invariably favored the winning presidential candidate. And a weak tax base, limited by state caps on property taxes, hinders efforts to repair infrastructure, keep up parks, and attract a more educated work force.Īaron Bernstein, Reuters A campaign rally last May for Donald J. Only 23 percent of the residents hold bachelor’s degrees, seven points below the national average. The median household income is $13,000 below the national average. More than half of schoolchildren receive free or reduced-price lunch, a proportion that grows every year. The challenges facing Vigo are familiar to many similar lower-income communities. In this election, 55 percent of those who went to the polls chose Mr. Its residents have voted for the winning candidate in all but two presidential elections since 1888. Vigo County has long served as a bellwether of American political sentiment. This was Trump’s America, a place where the promise of rebuilding the economy and fixing the ills of modern society resonates deeply with voters. Manufacturers had been pulling out for decades, leaving behind the poor, the underemployed, and the undereducated. Trump knew that Vigo County and hundreds of small cities and rural areas like it were struggling. Some 2,000 people descended on the theater, lining up in the early-morning hours to meet the man they felt could fix their problems: Donald J. For a few hours last May, however, that all changed. The venue once attracted stars like Frank Sinatra but has since faded from national attention. Tony Campbell, ISU Students work with a hydraulics simulator in an applied-engineering lab at Indiana State U., in Vigo County.Īs snow whips through the downtown one evening, the historic Indiana Theatre sits dark. ![]()
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