Truckers voted for Trump in droves. Now they say his trade war is 'killing' their ability to make a living.

Morris Coffman has been a truck driver for 35 years. And he's been a conservative for even longer than that — his whole life.

"That said," Coffman told Business Insider, "[Trump] is absolutely a moron. His idiotic ideas will tank the economy even further."

Truckers, like Coffman, lean conservative. A Verdant Labs analysis of Federal Elections Commission data found that nearly three-quarters of truck drivers are Republican — one of the most conservative jobs in America, along with surgeons and farmers.

And truck drivers supported Trump in droves, according to an Overdrive magazine survey from 2016. About 75% said they planned to vote for Trump, up from 66% who supported Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

But a sharp downturn in the trucking industry and a slew of tax changes have hampered their ability to make a living. And many connect those two trends to Trump's economic policies.

Transport research groups reported that the volume of trucks purchased in July fell to its lowest level in nearly 10 years. The number of loads needing to be moved in the spot market tumbled by 37% this July compared to one year ago, and rates have fallen by as much as 18%.

"I have witnessed many ups and downs in the industry but nothing like this," Coffman told Business Insider. "Many, many owner-operators and drivers have either lost equipment or lost a job in the last year."

"The truth about the rates being so low is Trump's trade policies," JL Sims, a truck driver, told Business Insider. "Manufacturers are scared. Last month's manufacturing jobs numbers finally began to reflect the reduced production. Everyone looks at the unemployment rate and thinks, mistakenly, that the economy is in great shape. Manufacturing tells the real story."

Trump has previously catered to truckers, pledging to slash taxes to help their businesses. "America first means putting American truckers first," he said at a 2017 trucker event.

But truckers, including conservative ones, don't believe Trump has lived up to his promise.

"You can not bully your way to a good economy," Coffman said.

[link to www.businessinsider.com (secure)]