In 2016, Trump’s anti-establishment rhetoric played well in the area, where bikers ride Harleys without helmets and love for the Green Bay Packers football team borders on the religious. So did his vow to “make America great again,’’ invoking the broad rise in living standards after World War II. He was the first Republican presidential contender to win the state since Ronald Reagan.

Now, with Wisconsin’s jobless rate near a record low at 3 percent, business says it’s struggling to find enough labor. “The economy’s humming,’’ says Rob Kleman, a senior vice president at the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce.

Unleashing animal spirits in boardrooms is one thing. How the proceeds are shared out is another.

Betsy LaFontaine, who works at a call center in nearby Appleton, did get a $1,000 one-time bonus from her employer AT&T Inc. after the tax cuts. But she said it just made her think of former colleagues fired during years of downsizing.

‘Felt Dirty’

“That money felt really dirty,’’ she said. “It felt like a reward at other people’s expense. All of us would have much preferred a wholesale increase in our wages,’’ or better benefits, or more job security.

Phil Krause, a local entrepreneur who runs the nonprofit Time Community Theater, says there’s no boom time feel to his town. “Everybody’s hiring, which is good,’’ he says. “But you can work full time in Oshkosh and still be a little bit broke.’’

That disconnect may be one reason Republicans are facing a stiff midterm challenge in Wisconsin.

Governor Scott Walker is in a close race with Democrat Tony Evers, a former high-school principal. Walker has made the state business-friendly along Trumponomic lines, cutting corporate and personal tax rates. Evers proposes to raise the minimum wage and invest more in schools and infrastructure. Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, who’s favored to retain her seat, is calling for an economy that “works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.’’

In the decades before Trump, the distribution of growth steadily shifted in favor of those few, making the U.S. the most unequal economy in the developed world.