Voices from the Rust Belt
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A journey across the Rust Belt
CNN's MJ Lee traveled through three states to hear why populist candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have developed a following.
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Voices of the Rust Belt 10 videos
Voices from the Rust Belt
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A journey across the Rust Belt
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Most days, you can find Tim Wiles sitting in the corner of the Swannie House, a bar in Buffalo that he has owned for more than 30 years. Born and raised in the city, after the big steel mills in the area closed, Wiles, 60, said everyone fled. "Anybody that graduated from college, the only thing they could do was get out," he says. The city had gone through such hard times, he says, that when the 2008 financial crisis hit, some in his community hardly felt it: "We didn't suffer because we'd been suffering for so long." Wiles thinks Donald Trump is the most qualified presidential candidate, and is furious about the efforts within the Republican Party to stop the GOP front-runner from getting the nomination. "If the Republicans don't lay off this an, I will never vote Republican," he says.
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From his seat at the Swannie House, it's Trump
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Sean Candela, 62, has lived in Erie his whole life, and owns two restaurants near the entrance of Presque Isle State Park. Its beach was recently voted the number one freshwater beach in the country, and the park is considered one Erie's gems, drawing a flood of tourists in the summer time to businesses like Candela's. He named his restaurants after his mother, Sara. "When I get tired, you think, well, you don't want anybody saying anything bad about your mother. So it gives you a little bit of extra energy," he says. Candela has not decided which presidential candidate he'll vote for this year, though as a business owner, one of his top priorities is to be able to do his job "with as little interference as possible." He says he understands both Donald Trump's and Bernie Sanders' appeal. But, he adds: "There's appeal and there's reality. Can anybody in the system get a lot accomplished anymore?"
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Both Sanders and Trump have an audience in Erie
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When Darlene Hood thinks about her life, she remembers these years: 1965 was the year her father died; 1978 was the year her mother died; and 1985 was the year her oldest brother was killed. Hood was born in Youngstown in 1954, and her family left the city after the mils closed. But Hood decided to come back to a city that haunts her in the 1990s, and to this day, she can't explain why. "This is my home," she says. "You know how you can love and hate something at the same time?" Hood works at a group home in the north side of Youngstown, where she takes care of men with mental disabilities. Her dream is to one day run a group home of her own, where she can take her clients out to the amusement park and nearby cities like Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Hood hasn't decided who she will vote for this year. She is excited about the idea of Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman president, but she doesn't think anyone in the field can help her or her community. "It don't really matter to me because ain't nobody gonna help me no way," she says.
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A Democrat, but without enthusiasm
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the Trump National Golf Club, Tuesday, March 8, 2016, in Jupiter, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
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Donald Trump: Voter turnout biggest story in politics
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Sanders & Clinton's fight for the heartland
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Inside the mind of Trump's true believers
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FLINT, MI - MARCH 06: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speak during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Whiting Auditorium at the Cultural Center Campus on March 6, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Voters in Michigan will go to the polls March 8 for the state's primary. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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How the conversation continued after Flint CNN debate
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Entrepreneurs of Flint
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Another side of Flint
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Ollie Sutton hangs flag upside down
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Veteran flies flag upside down in Flint
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