Trump Wins a Second Term as Democrats Search for Answers

Donald Trump won a second presidential term On Wednesday, after victories in key battleground states, NBC News projects, leaving Democrats wondering what went wrong.

The historic victory avenged Trump’s 2020 election defeat, which he and many of his supporters baselessly continued to insist was stolen from him.

“I think we’ve just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s running mate, said early Wednesday at a campaign victory party. in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump and Vance spoke before most news outlets declared him the winner, but at that point the evening was clearly I’m walking in his direction. Trump thanked his supporters for the “extraordinary honor of being elected as your 47th President and your 45th President.”

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Democrats were stunned as one battleground after another flipped to the Republicans. A veteran Democratic strategist said of the party’s gloomy mood: “Have you ever been to a funeral? It would be Mardi Gras compared to this.”

The defeat left the Democratic Party without a clear leader moving forward and seeking answers about how Trump could become the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years.

“How is it possible that we can lose to this guy? This is just malpractice,” the Democratic fundraiser said.

Vice President Kamala Harris chose not to address her supporters in Washington, D.C., on election night after Trump won Georgia and North Carolina, the first two battlegrounds in the race for the White House.

This was stated by Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign. crowd at Howard University that she would not speak publicly until late Wednesday.

“We still have votes to count. We still have states that haven’t been called,” Richmond said shortly before 1 a.m. ET. – You will hear about her tomorrow.

On Wednesday, Harris calls on Trump to concede and congratulate him, a senior aide told NBC News.

The decision to remain silent has been accompanied by a sharp shift in sentiment among her campaign aides, supporters and Democratic officials as vote totals in battleground states point to an increasingly narrow path to victory.

At Harris’ headquarters on Howard’s campus, thousands of people stared almost silently at the screens, stone-faced. No one waved the American flags that had been handed out earlier in the evening. The atmosphere changed from joyful and festive to anxious and anxious.

Several dozen people in the crowd, clearly tired of watching the comebacks, began chanting, “Music! Music!” Soon after, the giant cable news screen was turned off and the DJ started playing rap music. Some of Harris’ employees walked around with blank expressions on their faces.

What’s ominous for Democrats is that the share of voters who identify with their party has reached its lowest point this century. According to NBC News exit poll32% of voters identified as Democrats, up from 37% four years ago. The exit poll also found the highest level of voters identifying as independent or “something else” this century (34%). The share of voters who identify as Republicans has changed less, at 34% this year.

Supporters of the two candidates were divided on the major issues facing the country on Election Day, and those divisions partly reflected where they were focusing their attention. NBC News exit polls also showed significant demographic shifts in the two party coalitions.

Among the most pronounced changes: Latin American men prefer Trump by a 10-point margin, 54% to 44%, after backing 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden by a 23-point margin of 59% to 36%.

In a smaller but significant change, Harris had a 25-point lead among Latina women, 14 points less than Biden’s 39-point lead over Trump in 2020.

At the same time, Trump faced a decline in the number of white suburban women: 51% this year, down from 56% four years ago, according to exit polls. Harris also received support from older voters, increasing the over-65 vote from 50% to 49%. That erased Trump’s five-point 2020 win among seniors. Moreover, older voters made up 28% of the electorate, up from the 22% they made up in 2020.

A majority of Harris voters named democracy as their top issue, while a majority of Trump voters said the economy mattered most to them. Overall, 35% of voters ranked democracy at the top of their list, 31% said the economy and 14% said abortion.

Fifty-six percent of Harris voters ranked democracy first, 21% said abortion was their top priority, and 13% chose the economy. Fifty-one percent of Trump voters thought the economy was their biggest issue, 20% said immigration, and 12% said democracy.

Harris vowed she would restore abortion rights, which were left vulnerable to restrictions due to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Trump has said abortion decisions belong to the states where they currently live, but he supports bans that exclude cases of rape, incest and endangering a woman’s life.

Overall, 51% of voters in 2020 said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But now 66% say so. At the same time, the percentage of voters who believe abortion should be illegal in all cases has fallen from 17% in 2020 to 6% this year.

Both candidates and their campaigns have expressed confidence in recent days that they are on track to win.

“Momentum is on our side,” Harris said Monday night at her latest rally in Philadelphia.

“I think we’re going to win a very big victory today,” Trump said while voting in West Palm Beach on Tuesday afternoon.

Despite the candidates’ sense of success, 72% of voters said in NBC News exit polls that they were either dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the state of the country, and only 26% reported that they were satisfied or enthusiastic about it.

The first exit polls showed signs of demographic shifts in the electorate. Trump’s popularity has waned among white voters but increased among blacks and Latinos. In 2020, 57% of white voters viewed Trump favorably, as did 38% of Latino voters and 10% of Black voters. This year, only 49% of white voters said they view Trump favorably, while his numbers among Latino and black voters rose to 42% and 14%, respectively.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com