I recall reading a local news interview with a union official -- in the construction trades alliance -- who was visiting job sites in 2016, trying to get support for Hillary Clinton. He said he was telling the workers that trump "is going to kill us," but they didn't care. He said they all emphasized one issue: taxes. They believed they'd go up under Hillary and down under trump and that was all they really cared about.
It's a h-u-g-e, h-u-g-e issue.
Two guys who are unionized construction workers that I know fairly well -- one is a welder, the other a carpenter -- support trump. They both say the same thing:
All they care about is taxes, that they feel they pay way too much. Not just income tax, but property tax on their homes, sales tax on almost everything they buy. My buddy Larry says, "I don't care about all that political crap. trump will cut taxes -- or at least says he will -- the Democrats always raise them. I'm voting for trump."
I am pretty good buddies with Larry but if I start talking about threats to democracy or encroaching authoritarianism his eyes glaze over. He doesn't want to hear it. He says it's above his pay grade.