Louisiana Voice

Donald Trump never passes up an opportunity to point out two facts: U.S. economy is booming and unemployment is at its lowest point in half-a-century.

And he’s correct.

Unless, of course you’re among some of his strongest supporters—those who are not necessarily sharing in the otherwise healthy economy because they can’t find jobs.

That booming economy is booming for the wealthiest of Americans and while more Americans are working, wages are simply not keeping up with the cost of living for the vast majority.

24/7 Wall Street, the survey company that provides statistics on just about everything from the most corrupt states to the best and worst deals on new car purchases to states with the poorest health and highest obesity and worst poverty has listed the worst 50 cities in which to live and the results might be a little surprising to the most ardent Trump supporters.

In all, 17 states are represented among the worst cities in America, which were chosen not for high crime statistics but for median home value, and their unemployment and poverty rates.

Of those 17 states, 12 were states Trump won in 2016 and those 12 states accounted for 41 of the 50 worst cities.

Louisiana had two of the dishonorable mentions: DeRidder, the 41^st worst, and Donaldsonville, second only to Yazoo City, Mississippi, as the worst place to live.

As of January, the national five-year unemployment rate was 5.9 percent. In DeRidder, it was 9.6 percent and in Donaldsonville it was a soul-crushing 14.3 percent, more than double the national rate.

Likewise, the poverty rate for DeRidder was 23.6 percent. Donaldsonville’s poverty rate of 39.4 percent was nearly three times the national rate of 14.1 percent.

As a state, Louisiana, which went for Trump over Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 percentage points (58.1 to 38.4), had an unemployment rate of about 4.9 percent.

Florida, which had a whopping 11 cities among the 50 worst, ranking from 6^th worst place to live (Poinciana) to 48^th worst (West Pensacola). Those 11 had unemployment rates of from 6.9 percent to 19.9 percent and poverty rates of 14.5 percent to 42.4 percent—all above national figures..

Georgia had eight that made the list, ranging rom 3^rd worst (Irondale) to 44^th worst (Augusta-Richmond County) with unemployment from 6.3 percent to 14.4 percent.

Besides Yazoo City, with its unemployment rate of 20.7 percent and a poverty rate of 42.6 percent making it the worst city in America in which to live, Mississippi had three other cities on the list (Bay St. Louis, Moss Point, and Greenville, 43^rd, 46^th, and 47^th worst, respectively.

Texas had three on the list, as did Arizona. Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Iowa and two each and Ohio and Pennsylvania had one each.

Each of those states went for Trump.

California (4 cities), New Mexico (2) and Nevada, Hawaii and Michigan, with one city each, were the five states voting for Clinton that had cities on the list.

In fact, if you take the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates as of December 2019, you will find that eight of those 10 (Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Louisiana, West Virginia, Mississippi and Alaska) went for Trump while only two (Washington and New Mexico) voted for Clinton.

A most unscientific survey, to be sure, but still, it’s worth pointing out that Trump’s core support appears to be concentrated in pockets of struggling poverty, high unemployment and desperation that seem to be having a difficult time reaping the benefits of the robust economy and 50-year-low unemployment the rest of the country seems to be enjoying.

And even with record low unemployment, seven southern states, each of whom supported Trump, fall in the lower half of the state unemployment rankings, an indication that those states, Louisiana included, have not been swept up at the same pace as the rest of the country.

And yet, they continue their unquestioning loyalty to MAGA and breathlessly hang onto every utterance as if his lies (15,000 and counting) were sent down from Mount Sinai with Moses and the Ten Commandments.