US election: White women deserted Clinton, youth stayed home

Hillary Clinton’s strategy to woo female voters failed after white women deserted the Democratic candidate.

Dr Rebecca Sheehan from the University of Sydney.

Hillary Clinton’s strategy to woo female voters and reclaim the minority vote won by Barack Obama failed after white women deserted the Democratic candidate and Latinos threw their support behind Donald Trump.

On the back of poor voter turnout in the African-American community and deep Christian values in Hispanic neighbourhoods, Mrs Clinton faced an uphill task after white voters sided with her Republican rival.

Rebecca Sheehan, a lecturer at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, told The Australian that white women, rather than women of colour, had voted for Mr Trump because they were “clinging on to privilege”.

A majority of white men and women snubbed the former first lady and voted for Mr Trump, with exit polls showing an increase in voter support in whites aged 30 and older.

The Trump campaign, unlike Mitt Romney’s doomed bid to unseat Mr Obama in 2012, assembled a diverse team focused on winning support in the key swing states of Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, which ultimately delivered him the presidency.

Dr Sheehan, who described speeches and appearances made by former US president Bill Clinton as being a “liability” for his wife’s campaign, said US citizens had “voted in line with their political ideology”.

On the issues of abortion and “family values”, a majority of Catholic, Protestant, Mormon and Christian voters swung behind Mr Trump.

“The large percentage of women who voted for Trump were white women, not women of colour, not men of colour. What we’re seeing here is white people clinging on to privilege,” she said. Dr Sheehan said wealthy ­people, many of them white, backed Mr Trump on the back of a “fear” campaign, fuelled by the ­Republican Party candidate’s pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border and implement a crackdown on Muslim immigration. Early analysis of voting trends showed 49 per cent of white college graduates backed the Trump campaign, compared with 45 per cent for Mrs Clinton.

On the back of protectionist policies, Mr Trump swept up the white vote, claiming six out of 10 white voters, representing 70 per cent of the electorate.

Among the white working class vote — those lacking a college degree — Mr Trump increased his party’s advantage compared with 2012. He claimed 67 per cent versus Mrs Clinton’s 28 per cent.

A SurveyMonkey graphic released before the election, which went viral on social media sites yesterday, showed the electoral potential for Mrs Clinton if young voters had turned out. Early voting trends showed Mrs Clinton’s youth vote, those aged between 18 and 25, had decreased compared with Mr Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012.

Young voters born since 1981 — sometimes referred to as “millennials” — were targeted as the market that could help deliver the Democrats the White House.

In the primaries, many of them backed Mrs Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, whose socialist policies appealed to the party’s Left.

Mrs Clinton failed to rally the Left, and was punished on election day, despite claiming more than 53 per cent of young voters’ ­support.

As the Republicans’ core base held firm on election day, the Democratic vote crumbled as Mrs Clinton failed to energise swing voters and the youth.

Dr Sheehan, an expert in feminist, gender and cultural politics, said white people with “part of a college education or less” had voted for Mr Trump, while young­er people “stayed away”.

“People made up their minds in the last week and month,” she said.

Evelyn Simien, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, described Mr Trump’s victory as “indicative of an allegiance on the part of women to support white capitalist patriarchy in the US”.

Michael McDonald, from the University of Florida, compared the election with Mr Obama’s win in 2008.

“Part of Obama’s victory was due to despondent Republicans staying home (especially older whites),” Professor McDonald said.

In key manufacturing county booths, where more than one in five adults work in the industry, Mr Trump claimed back crucial votes from the Democrats, who suffered their lowest turnout since Al Gore.

The last-minute decision-­making of voters, and the shortage of Democratic support on the ground, allowed Mr Trump to claim key votes in the final hours and days.

Despite rhetoric from Democrats and Hispanic groups that Mr Trump’s “wall” to keep out illegal immigrants would hurt the ­Republicans’ Latino vote, the party claimed 29 per cent, up from Mr Romney’s 27 per cent four years ago.

According to exit polls, the ­African-American vote for the Democratic Party remained firm but Mr Trump still managed to claim back one point, snaring 8 per cent of support.

The African-American community — which represents 12 per cent of eligible voters and was ­energised by Mr Obama at the past two elections — helped end Mrs Clinton’s chances.

In a battle of two unpopular candidates — both born in the 1940s, white and wealthy — Mr Trump offered the Republican base an anti-establishment candidate, who could create jobs and cut taxes.

After eight years of Democratic rule, hindered by Mr Obama’s failure to secure a mandate in Washington DC, Mr Trump — despite his colourful business background — received support from voters to help “fix” the US economy and tighten its borders.