But Why? What Exit Polls Say About Voters’ Reasons
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What are the early exit polls saying about why Americans voted the way they voted?
Broad Dissatisfaction Leaves Winners With Little Direction
The exit polling data are throwing up a real puzzle for elected officials and political analysts alike — voters are pretty clear they’re unhappy with government, but they don’t know how they want to change it.
More than half of voters, 53 percent, approve of how Barack Obama is handling his job as president. But at the same time, 62 percent say the country is on the wrong track — indicating a deep dissatisfaction with government institutions in general. Those voters went for Donald Trump by more than 2-to-1.
Trump Winning Among Several Groups of Women
While Clinton is winning among women overall by more than 10 percentage points, a number of female voting groups broke for Trump — even though 73 percent of all female voters surveyed in the exit polling said they’re bothered “some” or “a lot” by Trump’s reported treatment of women.
Trump is winning among white women by about 10 percentage points — and by nearly 20 points among middle-age white women. And women who describe themselves as conservative broke overwhelmingly for Trump, by 78 percent to 18 percent.
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