Democrats’ Burgeoning Chances in the Rust Belt
President Donald Trump swept all five states in 2016. But there are signs that many voters there—especially women—won’t vote Republican this year.
For Democrats looking ahead to 2020, the most encouraging trend in 2018 may be the party’s renewed competitiveness in key races across all five Rust Belt states that keyed Donald Trump’s unexpected victory two years ago. Yet even that potential recovery can’t erase the magnitude of the challenge Democrats will face reclaiming those states from Trump in 2020—a trial that likely became even tougher after he announced a new North American trade deal this week.
The Rust Belt states Trump flipped in 2016—Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania—had each voted for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. The losses
