The EconomistJuly 25th 2020 3T
wice recentlyan eruption in middle America has sent shock
waves across the country and the rest of the world. Four years
ago Midwestern voters were decisive in putting Donald Trump in
the White House, to global consternation. Two months ago, resi-
dents of Minneapolis took to the streets after a white policeman
had killed George Floyd, an African-American. The resulting prot-
ests shut down much of urban America for a spell, then provoked
demonstrations and debate on racism everywhere.
Both events were reminders that the Midwest can pack an out-
sized punch. That is most obvious in politics: the stakes are high in
a region in political flux. Unlike much of the coasts and the south,
where voters for one or other party have a lock on outcomes, in this
region many switch loyalty. If you want to know whether Mr
Trump may win another term, a big part of the answer will be
found, come November, in battlegrounds like Wisconsin, Michi-
gan and Pennsylvania—three states he unexpectedly won in
2016—and Ohio or Iowa, which he might yet lose.
Second, as the reaction to Mr Floyd’s death showed, the Mid-
west merits attention because it is exceptionally divided. More
than elsewhere, deep racial segregation persists in cities like Mil-
waukee, Chicago and St. Louis. Protesters’ anger has been focused
on ill-trained, violent police and on structural problems. To flour-
ish again, these cities need both economic recovery and reduced
racial inequality. Put another way, America will not overcome its
profound failures on race until the Midwest does.
Underlying this is a third reason for scrutinising America’s
middle: its example for similar regions elsewhere. It grew rich
from heavy industry and transport, then declined in the past half-
century. A more recent bounce-back of some better-run cities of-
fers lessons for others. Former industrial regions in Europe and
Asia can learn from the Midwest.
The Midwest is not the place of rusting cities and reactionary
farmers of popular imagination. Its reality is more complex and
more interesting. Most Midwesterners wouldn’t know which end
of a cow to milk, for they live, by and large, in sprawling metropol-
itan regions. Many of these cities boast revived downtowns, cul-
tural expansion, diversifying economies, thriving universities.
The census this year will show many of them gaining people, al-
though the region overall will grow little. Bigger places like Chica-
go and Pittsburgh, and smaller ones like Ann Arbor and Madison,
have done well of late. Even those with deeper troubles, such as De-
troit and Cleveland, have been improving.
In politics, too, there has been cause for cheer. Some towns
have become beacons of liberalism (even if that causes unease in
rural parts). Illinois legalised marijuana this year and was plan-
ning to wipe clean prison records for thousands of people. In
Michigan, early this year, lawmakers were seeking ways to shrink
its jail population. Two years ago, each of two urban districts in
Michigan and Minnesota elected Muslim women to Congress.
Chicago last year elected as mayor Lori Lightfoot, an African-
American, lesbian, ex-prosecutor. At the start of this year another
Midwesterner, Pete Buttigieg, a 38-year-old ex-mayor of South
Bend, Indiana, was making a serious run to be the Democratic
presidential nominee. Few fussed that he is married to a man. AmyAn outsized punch
Special report
America’s Midwest matters out of all proportion to its size, says Adam Roberts
The Midwest
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