A study by a headhunting organization reveals an intriguing dichotomy in the thinking of unemployed Americans: they preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a ten point split, but by and large believe policies enunciated by President Trump–including and especially a crackdown on illegal immigration–would improve their chances of getting jobs.

The study was done by Express Employment Professionals and surveyed 1,500 unemployed Americans over a one month period this spring.

One encouraging finding: only 33 percent of those surveyed say that they have given up looking for work. That sounds high, but compared with 43 percent last year, 40 percent in 2015, and 47 percent in 2014, it looks quite promising. The labor force participation rate has been in decline since the Great Recession and that has put a real damper on the economy. Maybe this study indicates that this key indicator is going to improve.

As for the split personality when it comes to politics, I can't improve on a description of this phenomenon by Hotair's Matt Vespa: 

Now, in terms of politics, the unemployed favored Hillary over Trump in a 35/25 split. Thirty-four percent did not vote. Yet, even with unemployed America tilting towards Clinton, they want Obamacare gone by a 57/43 margin. Also, a substantial majority also thought that a crackdown on illegal immigration would help them find work by a 58/42 margin. Concerning whether government should spend more on a jobs program or cut corporate tax rates to spur job creation, more government spending is preferred but by a slim 52/48 margin. It’s almost down the middle on that question.

Yet, one troubling indicator is the direction of the country; 40 percent of the unemployed said we were heading down the right path compared to 60 percent who disagreed. At the same time, while these voters broke for Hillary, they’re more aligned with Donald Trump on immigration and health care, which are two huge issues facing the country today. There are many inroads with these voters on economic issues and if Democrats craft a populist, job creating-centric agenda over the next couple of years—these people will vote for them.

But can Democrats achieve this goal?

For now, the political Left seems more worried about Russia and whether we’re all going to die from global warming now that we’re withdrawing from a non-binding agreement with Europe. So, seriousness is not a quality visible in today’s Democratic Party at present.

By the same token, if Republicans can do more to create new jobs, then perhaps that vital labor force participation rate will improve and there will be political rewards from this.