Why Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are surging

Nikki Haley was picked to respond to President Obama's State of the Union Address, and she used the opportunity to scold Donald Trump.

The South Carolina governor warned Republicans against listening to the "angriest voices" on the political scene. When moderators asked Trump about those comments in the South Carolina debate two days later, Trump mulled the charge for a moment before responding.

"I will gladly wear the mantle of anger," Trump said. "I'm angry because our country is a mess."

If you want to know why Trump gets a third of Republican support in national polls and leads in 49 states, look at his mantle of anger.

The appeal of anger, although it's not "anger," exactly, goes beyond Trump: Bernie Sanders has grumpily yelled himself into first place in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, over the supposedly inevitable Hillary Clinton. Specifically, he's done it by tying her to Washington insiders and special interests who are "rigging the game" against the regular guy.

A huge swath of the electorate is angry because they agree that the country "is a mess" and the game is rigged. They think it's self-evident, as Trump says, that "the American Dream is dead."

For many, the predominant feeling is pessimism rather than anger. Attend a Trump rally or a Sanders rally, and you'll see less anger than excitement. They're excited because they think they've found someone who stands for them, and with them. And the clearest sign of standing with them: declaring that the game is rigged and that America is a mess.

This pessimism sounds odd inside the Beltway, and among most Americans with college or graduate degrees. Most politicians, in both parties, operate in circles where the American Dream is alive and well. And if the game is rigged, it's rigged in their favor.