Democrats were in trouble. It was November 1984, and white, working-class voters in Macomb County had overwhelmingly voted for President Ronald Reagan for a second term. The Dems were losing their suburban, blue-collar base, and nowhere was the loss more pronounced than in Macomb County, home of the white, unionized autoworker. Just 20 years earlier, three-quarters of Macomb County voters turned out for President Lyndon Johnson, making it the most heavily Democratic suburban county in the U.S. To figure out what happened, local Democratic Party leaders hired Yale professor and pollster Stanley Greenberg. In March 1985, Greenberg sat down with Macomb County s Democratic defectors in hotel rooms and restaurants. After more than a month of interviews, Greenberg came to an startling conclusion: White, working-class voters who long identified as Democrats were fed up, fearful, and increasingly xenophobic. Their manufacturing jobs, which provided de