Dem strategist says Midwest voters were upset Clinton spent little time there in 2016

Democratic strategist Halie Soifer told Hill.TV on Friday that some Midwest voters were upset that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did not spend more time campaigning in the region three years ago.

“When I went back to Michigan in November of ’16 and tried to understand why she had lost there, people were upset she hadn’t come to the Midwest,” Soifer, who is executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told host Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”

She said the complexity of Clinton’s economic message played a role in driving voters in the region toward President Trump.

“I think the message was confusing,” Soifer said. “Sometimes the message of, ‘I’m bringing your job back’ or whatever it was that Trump was saying did have a certain simplicity to it that resonated with his voters perhaps more than the complexity of her policy-heavy message with her voters.”

Trump in 2016 won traditionally Democratic states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania after making multiple trips in an effort to appeal to working-class voters.