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(Canton Repository Robert Wang) Michelle Snook suffered a devastating layoff from her job in 2011, believes she has not been hired due to age discrimination and has worked a series of short, temporary jobs that paid low wages as the cost of living has risen.
With only about $91 a week from a part-time cleaning job, Snook, 60, is now living with a friend in Osnaburg Township and can't afford to rent her own apartment.
Amid her anger and frustration, Snook, a former supporter of President Barack Obama, said she has narrowed her choice for president in the March 15th primary to two candidates.
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
Sanders, who's seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, "seems to be a people person, and he's all about trying to get businesses to stay in America," said Snook, who supports his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy because "if they've got the money, they can help pay just as much as we have to pay."
Snook said she hopes Trump, who's seeking the Republican nomination, can fulfill his promise to bring jobs back to America and make Apple manufacture iPhones in the U.S.
"People have become so sensitive (about) people speaking their minds and him, he's not. He tells it like it is," said Snook. "He's just very outspoken, and he's not a politician but he's a businessman, and I think that's what we need now."
Snook is one of many voters in Ohio fed up by stagnant wages and the disappearance of local blue-collar jobs during the past decade who are drawn to anti-establishment presidential candidates.
According to the U.S. Census' survey between 2010 and 2014, Stark County households' median income, adjusted for inflation, declined more than 18 percent since 1999. The median household income dropped $10,313 in that 15-year period. That 18 percent decline is worse than the state's 16 percent drop, and is nearly double the national percentage.
Neighboring Carroll and Tuscarawas counties had a decline in median household income of roughly 10 to 12 percent. The declines were not as sharp as in Stark County, perhaps because they had fewer jobs to lose than more highly populated Stark County and because of the development of the fledgling oil and gas hydraulic fracturing business.
Jack DeSario, a political consultant and political science professor at the University of Mount Union, said the perception of a declining standard of living is sparking significant anti-establishment sentiment in favor of Sanders and Trump.
"This is the ultimate way to say 'screw you,' to the political process," he said.
Laid Off
Snook is a divorced mother of four. She said she never received her diploma from McKinley High School because she got pregnant with her first child. She said she was laid off from her job making signs for LSI Graphics Solutions in Lake Township in 2011. She said she worked there six years, starting at $7.50 an hour and eventually getting $9.50 an hour.
"I went into deep depression after that," she said.
Snook's job was among the thousands of jobs in the area that evaporated between 2000 and 2015.
In 2000, Stark County had 178,426 jobs covered by unemployment insurance, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2010, that number declined 16 percent to 149,684 jobs. The county lost 18,575 jobs since 2000, sixth-most in the state. Nearly all of the losses came from a 34 percent plummet in the number of goods-producing jobs from nearly 53,000 jobs to about 35,000 in 15 years.
After being laid off, Snook spent years getting low-paying jobs through temporary agencies. She worked in factories and farms. She laid roofs on buildings. None of the jobs lasted more than three months.
"I don't get to go shopping or do (anything). I live literally paycheck to paycheck. I've sold a lot of things in order to survive," Snook said. "The heating prices have gone up. Electric's gone up. Food has gone up. You keep raising stuff and people just don't have it to spend."
Snook, who ran unsuccessfully to be the Canton Ward 3 councilwoman as a Democrat in 1993, said she voted in 2008 for Obama "because he sounded good." She said that while she still likes him personally, she's disappointed in Obamacare. She said even with federal subsidies, the lowest premium she could find was $76 a month, which she can't afford.
Snook has ruled out supporting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton because she believes she is somewhat responsible for the deadly terrorist attacks against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
"I don't trust she's going to do what needs to be done. I think she's all talk," Snook said.
She said politicians "need to stop pampering the billionaires and millionaires. Start making them pay the taxes like we have to pay taxes. They need to listen to everybody. ... They need to stop letting our businesses go to our foreign countries. They're so concerned about the foreign countries, they're forgetting about the people in America. What about us?"
She's also receptive to Trump's promise to reduce the number of illegal immigrants here. While she said she has mixed feelings and wants everyone to succeed, she's concerned some immigrants could be terrorists or competing with her for work.
Snook said she's furious at both Republicans and Democrats.
"They fight. They can't agree on nothing. Ever since Obama took office, there's been nothing but bickering back and forth," she said.
Not in Trump's Orbit
However, other local voters facing economic stress are resistant to Trump's appeal.
Shawn Daum, 36, of Plain Township is a bus driver for the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority, and president of the union that represents most of the employees.
He said he started at SARTA 10 years ago, earning about $15 an hour. After a decade of annual raises of 1 to 2 percent from SARTA, he now earns $17.56 an hour. (Daum stressed that he's not criticizing SARTA, with which the union is in negotiations with on a new contract).
His wife was laid off around 2008 from a job selling home warranties. She was out of work for more than two years before she worked as a coffee shop barista, and then she became an office manager at a massage therapy clinic in Hartville, he said. They have a daughter and son.
Grocery store visits cost $60 to $70 a decade ago, he said. Now it's $70 to $90. Rent is $100 more a month than five years ago. Utilities have skyrocketed.
Daum said the family hasn't had a vacation in three years. They've cut back on going out to dinner and movies. And they have to carry a balance on their credit cards.
He said he will support the Democratic presidential nominee because he's concerned the nomination of a conservative Supreme Court justice by a Republican president could result in the court eliminating unions' ability to impose fair-share fees on non-union employees.
Sanders' message about income inequality speaks to Daum.
"I'm leaning toward Bernie Sanders at this particular point, just to wait and see what happens with Hillary and her email fiasco," he said.
Different Considerations
Kathy Lopez, 47, of Plain Township said she was laid off in August from her job as an office manager with Nationwide Insurance's Canton office, which will be closed. She's close to completing her master's degree after getting a business degree from Walsh University in 2013. Still, she's had a difficult time finding work because she feels employers prefer younger workers and they've told her she's overqualified.
Before her layoff, she said whatever raises she got were offset by increases in her health insurance premiums, in addition to grocery costs and her student loans.
Despite her situation, she said, the economy will play no role in how she votes for president.
"Companies do what they want. Even as a president, you can't control decisions companies make," she said, adding that technology has replaced many workers. "(Politicians) don't control the wages an employer will pay their people. They don't control who they hire, how many they will hire or whatever."
She's concerned about Medicare and Social Security, the country's campaign against Islamic State, school funding and health care.
"I want to be able to know that when it's my time to retire ... I'm going to get a Social Security check, and I will be able to get Medicare, or will I have to work until I'm 85?"
Lopez said she will vote for Clinton over Sanders in the Democratic primary because "I just don't believe he can make it happen" when it comes to addressing income equality and "she is very down to earth. She doesn't see herself as better than you and I, and she does not come out saying derogatory negative things about others the way Trump has."
Lopez, whose father was from Mexico, said she is offended at Trump's comments about Mexicans, Muslims and immigrants and that "he's going to say what people want to hear. ... I don't believe anything he says."
However, in a general election, Lopez would consider Gov. John Kasich if he were somehow to become the Republican presidential nominee because "he's very direct, and he does try very hard to help the people in Ohio."
But Trump's message of "Making America Great Again," resonates with Snook.
"Things were simpler. You could afford to take your kids out to do things, and people weren't so angry," Snook said about the 1980s and 1990s. "I would like to see America be great again. I miss it."
Reach Robert at 330-580-8327 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. On Twitter: @rwangREP
This project examining the direction of Ohio’s economy was produced by Ohio news organizations that have joined together to deliver stories that citizens identify as most important to their lives in 2016. More than 30 newspapers, radio and television stations agreed in December to cover the presidential election in a way that best represents the concerns of Ohioans, and holds candidates accountable to those concerns.