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 Labor leaders, progressive groups and Democratic operatives told
Reuters in interviews that they took seriously Trump's appeal with
white working-class voters and were studying how to respond to his
promises to create jobs and negotiate better trade deals.
The desire to stop the presumptive Republican presidential nominee
from wresting away the support of unionized workers has even led a
group organized to back Bernie Sanders, Labor for Bernie, to
consider its next steps if Sanders does not win the Democratic
nomination.
“It may well be our task to work hard to reach out to our (labor
union) members who support Trump and begin an important dialogue,”
said Rand Wilson, a staunch Sanders supporter and Labor for Bernie
spokesman.
The Rust Belt, which includes Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and West Virginia, has suffered heavy
job losses in sectors such as autos, coal and steel that have faced
fierce competition from abroad.
 The region, home to many unionized workers, has been a stronghold
for Democrats. The exceptions are socially conservative West
Virginia, which has gone Republican in the past four presidential
elections, and Indiana, which has gone Democratic only twice since
1940. Ohio has switched back and forth.
Trump has aggressively courted working-class voters ahead of the
Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. He has
criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement and promised to
rip up the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
He has also said he will consider raising the minimum wage and
backing higher taxes on the wealthy.
Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told Reuters the campaign
was targeting industrial states like Pennsylvania and Michigan,
which have voted Democratic in presidential elections since 1992.
Working America, an advocacy group affiliated with the AFL-CIO labor
organization, is expanding operations in states like Ohio and
Pennsylvania and plans to open an office in Wisconsin. Its first
mission is talking to voters about jobs and the economy and trying
to gauge where they are leaning in the presidential race. Later in
the campaign, the group will work more aggressively to win over
voters.
In Ohio, the Democratic Party has doubled its field operation over
the past month, thanks to an infusion of cash raised by the Clinton
campaign for the national and state parties.
Clinton, who has a strong lead over Sanders but has yet to secure
the Democratic nomination, has already hired state directors in Ohio
and Pennsylvania.
Working America field director Soren Norris knocked on doors on the
west side of Cleveland last week as part of an effort to gauge voter
sentiment.
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At the first house, Tamara Phillips, 44, told Norris she was not
enthusiastic about either Clinton or Trump but that she would vote
for the New York businessman if forced to choose.
Phillips, who works in publishing, said taxes on her commission
income rose during former President Bill Clinton’s administration.
But she said she had reservations about Trump’s “gruff” demeanor.
MENDING FENCES IN APPALACHIA
With an eye toward voters across the Rust Belt, Clinton visited
Appalachia last week with stops in West Virginia and Ohio. She
apologized for previous statements related to shutting down the coal
industry and told protesters she was committed to solving their
economic problems even if they did not support her.
Union activists said their strategy for undercutting Trump’s support
would be pointing out discrepancies in his positions.
His comment that he is open to raising the minimum wage comes after
he said in a November debate that “wages are too high” and that an
increase would hurt the economy.
Although Trump rails against trade deals and businesses that move
operations to Mexico, critics say that items such as ties and suits
in his clothing line were manufactured in China.
“The best way to go after Trump is to make him run against himself,”
said political strategist Brad Bannon, who advises labor unions.
Tom Buffenbarger, a Clinton surrogate to labor and the past
president of the machinists’ union, said Democrats would have “a lot
of fun” highlighting Trump's inconsistencies, although he
acknowledged the Republican candidate presented a threat in some
Rust Belt states.
“Are we concerned about the industrial states in the upcoming
election?" Buffenbarger said. "Yeah, Donald Trump’s done a good job
complaining about the trade deal while he continues to ship work
from the U.S. to China.”
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by
Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)
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