The 2016 presidential election has brought upon the American population a choice that has separated a nation.
presidential election has brought upon the American population a choice that has separated a nation.
A Nation Divided
The 2016 presidential election has
brought upon the American population
a choice that has separated a nation.
The presidential election this year has brought upon us two controversial candidates and dramatic debates. From media bias to vexed opinions, from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the American population has been swayed back and forth between the two candidates. Polls have shown a strong divide between genders and racial groups which has brought great attention to demographics behind the election. To provide more information about the nature of the divide, The Charger has used data from various polls to create the various infographics in this article..
Currently, in polls by FiveThirtyEight.com, Hillary Clinton is projected to have 301 electoral votes to Donald Trump's 236. These statistics would make the election seem like Clinton would win by a landslide among the American population. However, in the popular vote, Clinton has 48% of votes compared to Trump’s 45%. Women have kept Clinton in the election and if she wins, she will have them to thank.
If only women were to vote in the upcoming election, then Hillary Clinton would hold 458 out of 538 votes in the electoral college. On the contrary, if only men were to vote, Donald Trump have 350 electoral votes out of the 538 available. While each candidate has an advantage among a gender, Clinton's advantage among women in far greater than Trump’s among men. An average of polls calculated Clinton to have an advantage of 15 percentage points among women to Trump’s advantage of 5 percentage points among men.
Trump’s voter breakdown is extremely lopsided with 87 percent of his voters white, 1 percent black, and 5 percent hispanic. Clinton’s campaign has appealed to the majority of the population having 58% of her voters white, 24 percent black, and 9 percent Hispanic. Keep in mind whites make up over three-fourths of the United States population, blacks make up just over 10, and Hispanics make up 17 percent of the population.
If only minorities in the United States were to vote, then every state in America would be democratic. If only whites were to vote, all but 13 states would be labeled republican. Those statements alone highlight the imbalance and division among people of different race in America.
With voter turnout varying among each group, each category of voters is lopsided towards either political party. 93 percent of black voters plan to vote democratic and support Clinton along with 71 percent of Hispanics and 69 percent of Asians. Trump’s campaign, while appealing to a majority of the white population, has shown to appeal to 60 percent of non college educated whites planning to vote and 54 percent of the college educated whites who plan to vote. While the majority of women across America plan to vote for Clinton, giving her an extreme advantage over Trump, polls show 55 percent of white women plan to vote for Donald Trump.
The geographic region of which the voter lives has also shown to impact their choice of political preference. States located is the South and Southeast of the United States tend to lean towards the republican party and Trump. States located on the West Coast and North East tend to be democratic leaning towards Clinton in the election.
A common trend that has occurred through the election season has been voters voting against a nominee rather than for a nominee. Of republican voters, 53 percent say that their vote is against Hillary Clinton rather than for Trump. On the contrary, 46 percent of democrats are using their suffrage to vote against Donald Trump.
Another key demographic is the age the citizens voting for each candidate. While Clinton’s ideals have pleased people of all ages, Trump’s votes plan to come from citizens ranging from 50 up. 47 percent of Americans over 65, plan to vote Trump, while just 39 percent plan to vote for Clinton.
The 2016 election has brought among the American people a choice, which, statistically and physically, has shown a divide in a unified nation.
Clinton Voter Breakdown by Race
Trump Voter Breakdown by Race
Projection if only minorities voted
Projection of only whites voted
Red-Republican
Blue-Democratic
By Adam Hardy
FEATURE
Data source for this article: FiveThirtyEight.com takes an in depth look into this years election, creating inforgrahpics, polls, and articles to display accurate information and predictions. This organization takes into account historical trends and taking weighting averages of multiple polls to predict models for the 2016 election.
Popular Vote Projection
Electoral Vote Projection
Other Details About the Divide
The Charger, November 2016
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