Here are the 3 things that helped propel Trump back to White House, according to AP survey
FILE-Former President Donald Trump, arrives on stage during a town hall campaign event at the Lancaster County Convention Center on October 20, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is projected to become the 47th President of the United States and a new survey reveals what may have contributed to his return to the White House.
In an AP VoteCast survey, roughly 3 in 10 voters said they wanted total upheaval in how the nation is run. The survey consisted of more than 120,000 voters across the country and was conducted for eight days, concluding as voting polls closed.
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Trump won over voters nationwide and in key swing states who were concerned about two of the key election issues this year: the economy and immigration.
Voters gave Trump the edge on their top concern: the economy
Concerns about inflation were high among voters, who believed that Trump could better manage the economy and jobs than Vice President Kamala Harris. The swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin mirrored the mood of the country, the Associated Press reported.
The share of voters who said their family’s financial situation was "falling behind" increased to about 3 in 10, up from roughly 2 in 10 in the last presidential election.
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Many voters were still worried about inflation that spiked to a 40-year high in June 2022. The survey noted that 9 in 10 voters were very or somewhat concerned about the cost of groceries, and 8 in 10 were worried about their health care costs, their housing costs or the price of gas.
Tough immigration policies were more popular, particularly in swing states
According to the survey, voters were more likely to embrace tougher immigration policies than they were four years ago, which matches Trump’s tough approach.
Roughly 4 in 10 voters said that immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be deported to the country they came from, up from about 3 in 10 in 2020.
While most voters said that immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, that was down from 2020.
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Trump has seized an increase in illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico as a driver of crime and falsely accused Haitian immigrants in Ohio of eating dogs and cats.
The AP noted the president-elect’s stance may have echoed in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin – three states far from the southern border whereabout 8 in 10 Trump voters said they supported deportation over a chance to apply for legal status.
Trump impacted Democrats’ traditional advantage among key groups
Trump picked up a small but important number of younger voters, Black voters, and Hispanic voters, many of whom were feeling down about the economy. Majorities of younger Black voters and Latino voters said the economy is not working well.
According to the AP, the economy carried more weight than in the 2020 election, including for these groups. Four years ago, COVID-19 and racism were critical issues for Black and Latino voters. But this time, they were more focused on the economy, and Trump managed to make progress with both groups even as the majority stayed with Harris.
Among voters under 30, slightly less than half supported Trump, an improvement from his 2020 performance. The survey noted that roughly three-quarters of young voters said the U.S. was headed in the wrong direction, and about one-third said they wanted complete and total upheaval to how the country is run.
There was also a divide between young men and women on which candidate they backed. Roughly 6 in 10 women between 18 and 29 voted for Harris, and more than half of men in that age group supported Trump.
The AP VoteCast survey combines a random sample of registered voters drawn from state voter files; self-identified registered voters using NORC’s probability based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population; and self-identified registered voters selected from nonprobability online panels.