U.S. Presidential Election of 2016
Why Did Clinton Lose and Trump Win the Election?
2017 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 5-17
Details
2017 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 5-17
Defying pundit and journalist expectations of a landslide victory for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump actually won the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Why did such an unexpected thing happen? This paper points out some important factors that influenced the election results. The factors that caused Clinton’s election loss include the strategic failure of the Clinton campaign, her e-mail problem, the so-called "Sanders revolution, " and Clinton’s failure to consolidate minority voters like Latinos and female. Trump’s strategy of distinguishing social issues and economic issues played a significant role in his victory – i.e., while making extreme arguments on social issues to consolidate the support of single-issue voters, Trump took a moderate stance on economic issues to win moderate supporters who did not trust the establishment. The reason conservative white working-class voters supported Trump is also explained.
