2016 Postmortem

Last edited Thu Dec 29, 2016, 04:51 PM - Edit history (1)

... showed white Clinton supporters also had racist attitudes. It wasn't as prevalent as among Trump supporters, but the differences weren't as much as I would've expected! I think it was a Reuters poll.

There were other factors too, like level of education. People without college degrees tended to vote for Trump. However, Clinton did well among voters without a high school diploma. I also recall seeing posters here arguing that Ohio had experienced a "brain drain" over the years (with stats of education levels), and that states like Georgia should therefore be a preferable Democratic target now. I didn't agree. My instinct was later confirmed by exit polls that showed white voters in Georgia voted for Trump more than Ohio!

Income was another factor. The higher the income, the more likely they'd vote for Trump. That's true for Republicans in general.

The main difference was between white evangelicals and other whites! Trump won the white evangelical vote by 80% to 16%! If not for them, Clinton would have won the majority of white votes too! Let's not forget the open Supreme Court seat before the election.

White evangelicals have been safely Republican since about 1980. They voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976! Let that sink in!! That was AFTER the civil rights laws of the 60's and Roe v. Wade in 1973! What happened to move them to the Republicans? Jimmy Carter and other Democrats proposed taxes on churches/religious schools in the South if they didn't have enough black integration! Not long thereafter, abortion and other morality issues became a bigger argument against Democrats from evangelical preachers! Republicans also put opposition to abortion in their 1980 platform.

As usual in this country... follow the money! In this example, the tax proposals.