The more you look at the exit polls, the more impressed you have to be with what Donald Trump accomplished. Not only did he win 30 out of 50 states (Obama never won more than 28), but he also did the following:
* Trump won a much larger percentage of the Hispanic vote than his critics predicted he would: He got 29% of the Hispanic vote, which is more than Romney received in 2012. Interestingly, Trump got 33% of the male Hispanic vote. (And these numbers don't include the evidence that anywhere from 600,000 to 2.9 million illegal immigrants and other non-citizens voted, the vast majority of whom are Hispanic. So it's possible that Trump received a much larger share of the legal Hispanic vote than the exit polling indicates.)
* Trump received 8% of the black vote and 13% of the male black vote. By comparison, McCain got 4% of the black vote in 2008, and Romney got 6% of the black vote in 2012.
* Trump received a larger share of the union vote than Romney or McCain received: 43%.
* Amazingly, Trump got 41% of the vote from people who make 50K or less, an 8% increase over the percentage that Romney and McCain received from this income group.
* Trump buried Clinton in the number of counties won. He won over 3,000 counties, while Clinton won just over 100 counties. A strong majority of Hillary's votes came from a narrow band of 52 coastal counties and five “county equivalent” cities stretching from San Diego to Seattle on the West Coast and Northern Virginia to Boston on the East Coast. Washington DC and areas in Northern Virginia and Maryland with large concentrations of federal employees voted for Hillary by margins ranging from 2 to 1 to 4 to 1. But the heartland of America went solidly for Trump.
* Trump won 81% of the evangelical Christian vote and 61% of the Mormon vote. Among voters who attend church weekly, Trump won 56% to 40%. Regarding the Mormon vote, only 25% of Latter-day Saints voted for Hillary. As mentioned, Trump got 61%; the remaining 14% was split between McMullin and Johnson. (If I found out that 75% of my fellow Mormons did not vote for the person I voted for, I would ask myself what I was thinking, rather than wonder what they were thinking.)
* Trump won a much larger percentage of the Hispanic vote than his critics predicted he would: He got 29% of the Hispanic vote, which is more than Romney received in 2012. Interestingly, Trump got 33% of the male Hispanic vote. (And these numbers don't include the evidence that anywhere from 600,000 to 2.9 million illegal immigrants and other non-citizens voted, the vast majority of whom are Hispanic. So it's possible that Trump received a much larger share of the legal Hispanic vote than the exit polling indicates.)
* Trump received 8% of the black vote and 13% of the male black vote. By comparison, McCain got 4% of the black vote in 2008, and Romney got 6% of the black vote in 2012.
* Trump received a larger share of the union vote than Romney or McCain received: 43%.
* Amazingly, Trump got 41% of the vote from people who make 50K or less, an 8% increase over the percentage that Romney and McCain received from this income group.
* Trump buried Clinton in the number of counties won. He won over 3,000 counties, while Clinton won just over 100 counties. A strong majority of Hillary's votes came from a narrow band of 52 coastal counties and five “county equivalent” cities stretching from San Diego to Seattle on the West Coast and Northern Virginia to Boston on the East Coast. Washington DC and areas in Northern Virginia and Maryland with large concentrations of federal employees voted for Hillary by margins ranging from 2 to 1 to 4 to 1. But the heartland of America went solidly for Trump.
* Trump won 81% of the evangelical Christian vote and 61% of the Mormon vote. Among voters who attend church weekly, Trump won 56% to 40%. Regarding the Mormon vote, only 25% of Latter-day Saints voted for Hillary. As mentioned, Trump got 61%; the remaining 14% was split between McMullin and Johnson. (If I found out that 75% of my fellow Mormons did not vote for the person I voted for, I would ask myself what I was thinking, rather than wonder what they were thinking.)