Flyover States Are the Country

It might intrigue nonOhioans to know that one can own a ScarsdaleBrentwoodGross PointeChevy Chasetype stone home five bedrooms four baths pool for 400000amp160amp160Gas is 189 a gallon and so is milkMy daughters go to dance class in Parma Ohioamp160 The student body at the dance class represents a wide ethnically diverse group of dedicated dancersamp160 It is a collegial experience for the kidsI spend hours and hours and hours sitting in the dance studio talking with other parents mostly fathersamp160 Kids are rarely dropped off at the dance studio the parents wait and wait for the lessons to concludeamp160 These engaged parents live in the momentamp160 They know everything their kids do their grades homework health and weekend plansamp160 Not a nanny in sightamp160 There is no housekeeper waiting for their returnquotI would never feel comfortable with someone else doing my laundryquot confided my friend Daveamp160 Then we discussed bleachBruce Popovich is a dance dadamp160 He has been in the United Automobile Workers UAW for over 20 yearsamp160 He works at the General Motors Parma plant and previously spent years at the Lordstown plant where the Chevy Cruze was manufacturedamp160 His job at the Lordstown plant was to drive the car off the assembly line to the parking lotamp160 At first I thought this was a cushy union gigamp160 Nopeamp160 Bruce is actually the most skilled person on the lineWhen Popovich drove a car off the line he took it through tough paces speed track speed bumps and other rigorous testsamp160 But the toughest test on the car was Bruce39s earsamp160 His ears can hear one bolt loose in one corner of the trunkamp160 He can hear if soundproofing is loose under your seatamp160 His ears decide if the car can be sold or if it has to be repaired and rebuiltField Research I love focus groups but I don39t trust surveys and I don39t like the word dataamp160 Expressionsamp160and feelings are better barometers of a consumer39s likelihood to buy a product than data pointsamp160 I look for passion and languageamp160 How excited are the consumers about a product and which words are used to describe the productamp160 That39s the gold to me in a focus groupWhen I talked with the dance parents in 2015 and 2016 their life challenges and mine were obviousamp160 Shopping at threeamp160stores to save 25 cents on milkamp160 Mom dad and grandma working one or two or three jobsamp160 Continuously doing everything possible to keep the kids safe educated and out of troubleamp160 Endless strategies for dealing with the teachers at schoolamp160 Where to get car brakes that won39t breakamp160 How to work with the state to get the support for special needs kidsamp160 It wasamp160all matteroffact pragmaticamp160 There is no time for theory or debate as homework must be doneamp160 Social mediaamp160 Yes to track exactly where their kids are not for posting political theoryLawns Tell AllDriving the residential streets of Parma Middleburg Heights and Strongsville Ohio in 2016 brought into view one clear factamp160 Trump was going to win That revelation was not obvious because a house had a Trump sign on the front lawn but because a house would have dozens or hundreds of Trump signs on the front lawnamp160 Hundredsamp160 House after house after houseamp160 Velocity of passion was the pathway to the Trump win the research was clearamp160In my work as a broadcast executive I have always used mall researchamp160 Not mall intercept research but sit in the mall and look researchamp160 Look at the people in the food court talk to them with respect and listen to what they know and don39t knowamp160 Respectamp160 Driving through dozens of neighborhoods around the country would be more telling of the results of any election than a fresh stack of quotdata pointsquotamp160 If hundreds of people plaster their lovely homes with campaign signs that39s indicative of the resultWhat the Surveys Couldn39t ShowMy friends at the dance class were never surveyed If they were handed a survey they would have never ever had time to fill it out Their cheap milk store was about to close the teacher must be met and homework must be doneamp160 The predictive research results were on every front lawnThe ShockerOn election night I saw a shocking factamp160 Pundit after pundit expert after expert was shocked at the resultsamp160 I was shocked they were shockedamp160 Were they that isolatedamp160 That myopicamp160 Did they ever get in their cars and just drive the neighborhoodsamp160 Do they own carsamp160 Noamp160 They were outraged that their research so so so suckedamp160 They were more outraged it seemed that their research failed them than with the result of the electionamp160 But that additional outrage would comeWhy Bruce WhyRecently on my Westwood One network show I had Bruce Popovich on as a guestamp160 He wasn39t surveyed by political pollsters and neither were his UAW colleaguesMeamp160 Bruce did your UAW colleagues vote Democraticamp160amp160Did they vote for HillaryBruceamp160 No we didn39t trust heramp160 There is a whole history around the people with her who we didn39t trustMeamp160 How do you feel when the experts on TV say that Trump was elected by ignorant white menBruceamp160 I don39t feel too good about it because I have three degrees from Penn State I am a nineyear apprentice tradesman and I know how to build your carNext time the researcher puts a pile of books on your desk and offers an executive summary look at him or her and say quotLet39s get out of here and ride the neighborhood for the afternoonamp160 Let39s have lunch at the food courtquotPhoto credit Derek Owens UnsplashClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers 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Flyover States Are the Country

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Walter Sterling

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