During a recent CNN segment, senior data reporter Harry Enten explained how President-elect Donald Trump drastically improved his numbers in the 2024 election when compared to the 2020 election against President Biden.
Trump has received 50.7% of the popular vote from the 2024 election accounting for almost 73.5 million Americans. Enten began to explain the results on “CNN News Central” by describing the results as remarkable for any Republican to accomplish by increasing support from voters who normally fall into the demographics of a Democrat voter.
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“I think the breadth of the improvement that Donald Trump had — holy Toledo. Alright, Trump gained ground in 49 states and the District of Columbia compared to 2020,” Enten said. “I went back through the record books — when was the last time a party gained in so many different places? You have to go all the way back to 1992 when Bill Clinton improved upon Michael Dukakis’ performance in 49 states plus the District of Columbia.”
“The bottom line is no matter where you looked on the map, Kate Bolduan, no matter where you looked, Donald Trump was improving on where he did four years ago except for Washington State,” he explained. “It is no wonder that at this particular point, he looks like he’s going to be the first Republican to win the popular vote since George W. Bush back in 2004.”
CNN host Kate Bolduan asked how Trump was able to improve on certain demographics that “Republicans do not generally count as part of their winning coalition.”
“Again, holy Toledo. It’s just like, oh my goodness gracious. These are the types of groups that you would never have thought that Donald Trump would’ve gained so much support among eight years ago when he first won against Hillary Clinton,” Enten said. “Trump’s was the best GOP showing among 18- to 29-year-olds in 20 years. You have to go all the way back to 2004. How about among black voters? The best performance for a Republican candidate for president in 48 years since Gerald Ford back in 1976.”
“And among Hispanic voters, the exit polls go only back since 1972, but Donald Trump’s performance on Tuesday was the best for a Republican presidential candidate in exit poll history. He literally goes all the way back through history and breaks history. This is what we’re talking about, Kate Bolduan, groups that you never thought that Donald Trump would do well among, even for a Republican candidate, that is what he did,” he said. “If the 2016 election was about Donald Trump breaking through with white working-class voters, this election was about breaking through and going into that Democratic coalition and tearing it apart.”
“We knew that Donald Trump was going to do well with rural voters. I think it was surprising how well he did with rural voters,” Enten said. “Look at this margin, we’re looking at a 27-point win for Donald Trump among rural voters. That is a double-digit improvement from how he did with them back in 2020.”