Professor: Trump Rides Economy, Immigration To Win

A Tennessee Tech professor said Donald Trump successfully prioritized his policy discussions to win a return bid to the White House.

Political Science Professor Lauren Harding said he focused on essential issues specific to key demographics. Harding said the high rates of inflation seen in the past four years also reflected poorly on Kamala Harris’s campaign.

“Thirty-one percent of voters said the economy mattered most,” Harding said. “Followed by immigration, abortion, the state of democracy, then foreign policy. And so while Harris really hit hard on abortion and the state of democracy, Trump really hit hard on the economy and immigration, which were voters’ top issues.”

Harding said another key to Trump’s victory was his diverse coalition, as Trump secured twelve percent of Black voters and forty-five percent of Hispanic voters nationwide. Harding said Trump also increased the number of young voters that supported him by six points over 2020.

“Trump’s message really appealed to blue collar workers,” Harding said. “Particularly, voters without a college degree that he was up four percentage points over 2020 with them winning fifty-four percent of that vote.”

Harding said Harris did will with women voters, but not in large enough numbers to make a difference.

“She was counting on that issue of abortion to really resonate and mobilize women,” Harding said. “Going back to concerns over reproductive rights and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which really did mobilize voters in the midterms in 2022.”

Harding said the results have been surprising for many people because the key battleground states consistently reported ties between the two candidates during polling.

“What Trump basically did was run the board,” Harding said. “Harris had to hold the blue wall. She had to hold Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Trump was able to pull those states back in 2016, breaking the blue wall against Hillary Clinton. Biden got them back in 2020 and Trump was able to make inroads with those voters again in this election cycle while also pretty much sweeping the Sun Belt battleground states, getting North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona as well.”