Thirty percent of Black male voters under 45 years old supported Trump.
With election day several weeks past, voting data and exit polling is providing a clearer picture of how former, now-President-elect Donald Trump defied nearly all the pollsters showing a dead heat with Vice President Kamala Harris.
In Philadelphia, Trump made in-roads with Black and Latino voters, particularly in precincts with majority-Latino voting blocs. Compared to 2016, Trump nearly tripled his support in those areas. Trump’s support among majority-Black precincts also increased, but at a far smaller margin. When considering voters’ income brackets and economic circumstances, precincts with lower median incomes saw the greatest boost in support for Trump from his first campaign.
According to the Inquirer, a major hurdle Harris faced was apathy, with the paper interviewing multiple Philadelphians who chose not to vote this year. One voter, who hasn’t voted since 2012, told the paper she didn’t have a sense of knowing Harris. Multiple interviews noted those who didn’t vote would have voted for Trump, with West Philadelphian Aaron Bryan saying, “the economy was much better when he was in office.”
Among Black Christians, economic issues were “a motivating factor” in an election in which Trump received 30% of the Black male vote under the age of 45. But social issues were also at play, as a Trump campaign ad criticizing Harris for supporting transgender surgeries for prison inmates had the biggest impact on Black and Hispanic men. Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said the issue of transgender athletes competing in school sports “may have been the tipping point” for some Hispanic voters.
Even outside of Philadelphia, some Latino supporters of Harris are happy Trump won. Carlos Pagan of Hazleton called his vote for Harris “a mistake” and had she been elected, “the country would have gone backward.” Just as with Black voters, Latino voters in the Keystone State responded to Trump’s “promises on the economy.”
Trump’s increased support among Black voters in Pennsylvania was repeated across the country. CNN’s analysis of the election showed Trump gained the most support for a Republican presidential nominee from Black voters in five decades.
