Patrick Ruffini: Why Did Trump Win?

Just Asking Questions

Why did Donald Trump win?

Trump is back. Back again. He's secured the Electoral College majority needed to become America's 47th president and looks on track for a popular vote majority—the first Republican to pull that off in more than 20 years.

A New York Times breakdown shows that across just about every type of county—urban, suburban, older population, younger, white, black, Latino—Trump improved his numbers.

Surprising to many was Trump's large improvement among Latinos of all kinds, despite—or maybe in some cases because of—his hardline immigration stances and insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at his Madison Square Garden rally shortly before the election. Yet seven percent more Puerto Rican Americans appear to have voted for Trump this year than in 2020.

One person who is less surprised than many is today's guest, Patrick Ruffini, who wrote a book predicting much of this called Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP. He's a Republican Party strategist, a pollster for Echelon Insights, and writes at The Intersection.

Sources Referenced:

• 2024 Presidential General Election Results
• The New York Times: Early Results Show a Red Shift Across the U.S.
• The Wall Street Journal: How Different Groups Voted in the 2024 Election
• The married/unmarried gap
• Associated Press: How America voted in 2024 (demographic breakdowns)
• National Center for Education Statistics: College Enrollment Rates
• Florida election results 2024 vs. 2012
• VoteCommon Kamala Harris Ad

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

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