“I work six days a week, nine and a half hours a day, and I still struggle to pay my bills and make sure that my son has,” said Janette Rideoutt, 38, who manages a clothing store here. “I don’t think they understand, because they have money, and when you have money, it just makes life a little bit more simple.”

Out for a motorcycle ride in Terre Haute, Rick Poole, 56, said that as a truck driver in the oil fields of North Dakota, he felt lucky to have a stable job. But he added that Washington politicians were living in a bubble in which “they have no idea what it’s like to be out here and having to work for minimum wage of $8 or $9 an hour and try to raise a family.”

“You can’t do that,” Mr. Poole said. “And if you’re going to have to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week just to keep your head above water, what kind of life is that?”