The year of the disaffected voter

The fact that Donald Trump is the Republican presumptive nominee and Bernie Sanders is still chugging along in the Democratic primary can mean only one thing: Voters are pissed off. With 94 million Americans out of the workforce, middle class voters seeing wages decline, and the average college graduate facing $35,000 in student loan debt with few job prospects, it is no wonder people are so angry.

These disaffected voters could be Hillary Clinton's undoing and propel Trump to the White House.

Clinton is facing a big problem. The "us verse them" populist messages of political outsiders Trump and Sanders have been music to the ears of so many Americans. They want to blow up the system Clinton has helped create and the system they believe has failed them. And failed it has: Middle Class Americans are suffering.

A new nationwide Pew Research study shines some light on why so many voters feel left behind by this economy. The study finds that middle class America is shrinking and wages are declining. Lead author Rakesh Kochhar said, "The shrinking of the American middle class is a pervasive phenomenon ... It has increased the polarization in incomes."

The report finds that more than four-fifths of America's metropolitan areas have seen household incomes decline this century. Only 39 out of 229 metro areas saw medium household incomes grow. With manufacturing jobs shrinking 29 percent, it is pretty obvious why Trump and Sanders' anti-free trade messaging has resonated with voters who have seen their jobs sent overseas and manufacturers close.