President Donald Trump won the 2016 election in large part thanks to his base of support: white voters who lack college degrees; that demographic is rapidly giving way to the rising numbers of minority and college-educated voters, The New York Times reports.
The Times notes that “The number of voting-age white Americans without college degrees has dropped by more than five million in the past four years, while the number of minority voters and college-educated white voters has collectively increased by more than 13 million in the same period.”
These changes are especially bad for Trump in several swing states, but his campaign maintains that the number of people they have registered as Republicans in that time will make up for the decline.
“As a clear show of support for the president’s policies, Americans are registering as Republican with a Republican president in office,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager. “And those significant voter registration gains prove President Trump is expanding his base and will win four more years in the White House as a result.”
“The combination of the president’s personality and style combined with the demographic challenges leaves very little margin for error,” GOP strategist Ken Spain noted. “Increasing registration while juicing turnout is his only play at this stage. It would mean defying the polls again.”
“For his entire term, Trump has made very few attempts to reach out and broaden his coalition,” said Larry J. Sabato, veteran political analyst and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “He has been trying to expand the Trump base that casts ballots, and they could substitute for the diminishing group of blue-collar whites.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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