"Trump's campaign readily shows that he is not your father's Republican"
I will believe change when I see. I think Trump reflects what he thinks the people want to hear, and if that is true then we are not really looking at change. We are looking at a voice in America that is actually resistant to change, one that may have fell quite over the years, but now with Trump as their champion, is becoming louder. So not really change, just louder.
I imagine this would largely depend on how one defines "change." I think he resonated with those who believe that America used to be better. His main slogan was "Make America Great Again," mainly due to a widespread belief that America is in decline and taking the wrong course. This has been a recurring theme in American popular culture for as long as I can remember, going back to at least the 70s (probably earlier). Not everyone believes the same way, but I've encountered more than a few people whose constant refrain is that "the whole country is going down the tubes."
To me, Trump comes across as an America Firster - for better or worse. He's a populist candidate who resonated with a lot of people who believe that their government should represent American interests, first and foremost. For the past several decades, Americans have voted for politicians who believed that increased free trade, globalism, as well as measured military interventionism, would stabilize the world, promote a better global economy, and bring about great returns for Americans in terms of expanded markets and a better standard of living overall. This did not happen as expected or promised.
Not that anyone would hold a politician to such a promise. If they had an idea they thought would work, yet didn't, then at least they should own up to it and try something else. All the people really want is just a better deal for America - better jobs, a better quality of life. Whatever we've been doing these past decades hasn't been working. I don't blame just Obama; this has been going on since Nixon. We've been going downward, not up. The public senses this, of course, but those at the top really don't.