2016: A billionaire and millionaire in the year of populism
Nonetheless, Travis argues, neither the presumptive Republican nominee nor Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton gets people like him.
[...] the candidate who connects with the widest swath of "average Americans" (median household income of about $54,000) will find the clearest path to the Oval Office.
The connection will prove particularly important in Rust Belt, Great Lakes and Midwestern states stretching from Pennsylvania to Iowa, where Democrats have prevailed in recent presidential elections but by narrow enough margins to give Trump hope.
Unlike previous wealthy nominees, such as Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 and Democrat John Kerry in 2004, Trump plays up — and boasts about — his riches.
Throngs roar at his calls to build a wall at the Mexican border, close all U.S. borders to noncitizen Muslims, and "bring back the jobs" from China and Mexico.
Her recent barb in Delaware: "If you want to be president of the United States ... don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of, and then go back, get on that big jet, and go back to your country club house in Florida or your penthouse in New York."
Trump's wealth could be a Democratic line of attack again, said Katie Packer, a former Romney aide who now runs an anti-Trump political committee.
Packer cautioned, though, that Clinton is not the same messenger as Obama, who was still paying off student loans when he stepped on the national stage.