Policy makers are not average republicans stop being stupid. Pretending that the base of the Republican Party is not poor white non-college educated working class people is moronic. Working manual labor in Vermont means you are white (95% of the population is so fuck off this is a fact) manual labor also pays less than white collar jobs, this is a fact, while some make good money in the trades, on the average a person working construction, or as a mechanic is not making what a person who is a banker, or doctor is making, they tend to be lower middle class.