The United States Election Project has revealed suprising new data on the US Presidential Elections, revealing how Donald Trump secured his win.
It’s fair to say that most of the world was taken aback my Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s suprise victory in the US Presidential Elections yesterday – and now that election data has emerged from the United States Election Project, it has become clearer as to what secured the new president-elect his victory.
The United States Election Project reports that nearly half of all eligible voters in the United States (a massive 46.9% of 231,556,622 people) did not head to the polls on election day – resulting in the second lowest voter turn out in US history.
Read: Donald Trump promises to force Apple to manufacture in the US
That super is only succeeded by the 1996 US Presidential Election in which Bill Clinton and Bob Dole faced off, in which 49% of eligible US citizens abstained from voting.
Updated poll numbers
231,556,622 eligible voters
46.9% didn’t vote
25.6% voted for Clinton
25.5% voted for Trump
1.7% voted for Johnson“” Josh Nelson (@SSS_joshnelson) November 9, 2016
The decision by voters to abstain most significantly affected the Democratic Party, from which presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was running. The total votes for Republican presidential candidates has remained steady at around 60 million, while Democratic candidates faced waning interest from a figure of 70 million in 2008 down to just 60 million in 2016.
A quick look at turnout data: It seems 2016 was nothing special for the Rep-candidate. It’s the Dem-candidate that didn’t get the vote out. pic.twitter.com/wby3gta26m
“” D Yanagizawa-Drott (@yanagiz) November 9, 2016
The end implication is that Democratic voters have either become disenchanted or phlegmatic in voting, and while that same trend persists for Republic voters, it has result in a far less dramatic decrease in numbers.
Several sources external to the United States Election Project have alleged that one significant factor which resulted in decreased voter turnout was the US Supreme Court’s ruling against the Voting Rights Act in 2013 – the result of which was the closure of over 800 polling places across the United States and the implementation of stricter ID requirements for voters in multiple states.
Of eligible voters, 25.6% cast their ballot for Hillary Clinton, while 25.5% voted for Donald Trump. The next majority went to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson at just 1.7%.
However, Trump’s victory came in the form of swing states, wherein 36.% percent of voters abstained. Accordingly, Trump took home 30.9% of the vote, Clinton took 29.9%, and Johnson took 1.9%.
@SSS_joshnelson
Swing states (only ones that matter)
36.5% didn’t vote
30.9% Trump
29.9% Clinton
1.9% Johnson
0.5% Stein
0.4% Others“” Jason Andrews (@elgato7664) November 9, 2016
The end implication for United States citizens is – as contrived as it might be – that voting remains an important part of the democratic process. Ultimately, voters’ abstinence from voting secured Trump a Republican victory – an outcome many in the international community have found surprising considering the conduct of the president-elect.
Read: Donald Trump has won the US Presidential Election; let‘s not forget his five worst tweets
What are your thoughts on Donald Trump’s surprise victory? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
Visit the Election Project here
