Journalism students explore how blue turned red for Trump

Why did so many areas in the upper Midwest flip from Democratic strongholds to Donald Trump supporters in the 2016 election? Why didn’t the cities turn out more strongly for Hillary Clinton?

Thirty students from three University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Journalism, Advertising and Media Services classes explored the issue by talking to people in counties up and down the Mississippi River as well as Milwaukee residents.

"How the Mississippi River Valley turned red" screen capture
JAMS students’ media package, “How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red,” is available on the Media Milwaukee website. (Screen capture)

The results of their project, “How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red,” are now online at the Media Milwaukee student journalism website.

One group of 18 students took a three-state road trip right after the election, visiting counties that flipped the most from President Barack Obama to Trump, talking to farmers, factory workers, tavern owners, small town newspaper owners, hunters and others in small, mostly white towns strung along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

Another dozen students fanned out across Milwaukee talking to fellow students, barbershop political analysts and disenchanted millennials about why they did or didn’t vote.

The students tell the story through multiple media, supplementing their stories with audio, video, blogging, photos, social media and other online techniques.

Faculty and staff members Jessie Garcia Marble, Jessica McBride and Jeff Loomis led the project.

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