There is no doubt that was are all witnesses to one of the most unprecedented and historic election upsets of all time. I am certainly fascinated in studying something I believe will go down as one of the most polarizing and intriguing elections of all time as it plays out. For almost all of us, the election results came as a shock. It was the Brexit vote all over again, but this time, the stakes may be a little higher. In both elections, the theme was the lower-middle class- the blue-collar worker, that tends to get a little lost in favor of the upper-middle, deciding the election. This large group of working class people who felt their efforts, their work, and their way of life was overlooked by the legislators, the media and ultimately pollsters surprised everyone by turning out in large numbers but in favor of the conservative party, not the liberal party in which they traditionally supported. Young people, the upper-middle class, and high earners tended to vote democratic, just as they voted to stay in the European Union in Great Britain.

New York Times Exit Polls Over Time

Exit polls are scientifically given to voters after they vote to analyze the results. This is done because real votes are not available for this analysis.

I think these charts put together by the New York Times do an excellent job of explaining the election results. I will take you through them with my commentary.

The squiggles represent different presidential elections over time, and their placement on the scale represents the level of margin of support, with the arrow indicating the trend of this election.

Income

Generally, the Republican party is the party of the wealthier, they support lower taxes on their wealth and less regulation. Lower income people generally vote Democratic because the higher taxes Democrats generally support, in theory help low-income families that because those taxes fund government programs and aid designed to help the less wealthy. YET. In this election the poorest voters moved in great numbers to support Trump, while high income voters all trended Democratic.

Race

Minorities usually always vote democratic, yet more of those voters who once voted for Obama, now voted for Trump. I find this to be fascinating as Obama, and Trump are on other ends of the political spectrum with one embodying the story of growing up in an Immigrant home, and the other who talks over deporting as many illegal immigrants as possible.

Gender

Trump gained among men, but surprisingly despite his degrading comments toward women throughout the campaign Trump barley lost ground among women. While African-American voters flocked dramatically to the first African-American presidential candidate, women did not show that same support for Hilary Clinton, who received about the same percentage of of the women vote as Obama did in 2008.