- Published: August 22, 2022
- Updated: August 22, 2022
- University / College: University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
- Language: English
- Downloads: 43
In 2016, Donald J. Trump won the presidential election which no one could have predicted that he would win. The polls were wrong as Hillary Clintons rate kept a reasonable lead up until election night. Trump won the race with 306 electoral votes and in order to become president a nominee must have 270 electoral votes, for these are required to take the victory. We are here to figure out what changed or what happened for Donald trump to win the election.
Some would say it was because of white voters flipped from the democrat party to republican party from Barack Obama to voting for Donald trump. However, I believe this is not the case. There were 5 states that flipped to the GOP from 2012 to 2016. These states were Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania among others. They all had something in common they were in the Midwest and their jobs were on the line. Michigan being the motor capital of the world where two major motor companies such as GM and Chrysler in 2009 during the recession both filed for bankruptcy. Although the federal government bailed out these companies and ten other major motor agencies (Amadeo). Where most employees of these agencies are sometimes fiscal liberals they were also unionized. Trump hit hard in his campaign in the Midwest and especially on jobs. This is evident when Donald J Trump stated, and we are going to the white house, and we are going to bring jobs back to our country, and we are going to bring jobs back to Michigan (Trump).
Ford announced it was bringing a big operation in Mexico where Trump vowed to stop it in that same rally trump said, we will be bring back our jobs to Michigan, there will be a very big price to pay, for those companies, that want to leave our land go someplace else, manufacture their good and sell them back with no retribution. It won’t happen. There will be consequences (Trump). These workers of these motor agencies wanted their jobs back and voting for trump was a way to help their cause. The blue-collar worker knew he was talking about them. All the blue-collar jobs especially miners in Ohio, West Virginia, and Michigan’s upper peninsula supported trump. where in 1990s the United Mine Workers of America voted for Bill Clinton with a great win and the same was true for Trump over 20 years later. Trump counts miners among his most loyal voters (Coal miners helped Trump. Now they need help., par. 8). Therefore, I believe Trump won by promising job security.
Culture is the habits spoken and unspoken that define how things are done. (How You Change a Culture, par. 7). Another reason I believe Trump won was the shift of culture from the political left. Until now identity politics never been so important in the political left where the democratic party moved far left. Immigration was considered a bad thing until things changed and it wasn’t anymore. Which in turn would establish a privilege base social hierarchy with straight white males at the bottom of the hierarchy. They expanded on the idea of affirmative action which they seem the most under privileged to give an example such as transgender and Muslims. There are many social liberal people in America in which believe in civil rights and affirmative action and lot of them did not show up to the polls or even vote for Donald Trump. Culture change follows behavior and performance change. You can’t talk your way to culture change any more than you can dream your way to success (How You Change a Culture, par. 9).
Hillary Clinton, being a politician for many years, first lady to Bill Clinton, a senator of New York, ran for president in 2008, and eventually becoming secretary of state under President Obama. Hillary Clinton was a corporate democrat who in turn was picked by the democratic party in the primary elections. With what seems to be a shifting right supreme court the democratic party need to make major changes if they want to succeed in the 2020 presidential elections which is deeply divided based on ideology (Black). Which is bad news for them. Thus, there is current political drama with Russia, Comey, and everything else which I do not feel is possible to analyses without bias currently.
In March 2010, Obamacare was put into legislation and was considered one of Barack Obamas greatest achievements extending healthcare to millions of Americans that were not covered by health care. In the 2016 presidential election Donald Trump used health care as a campaign pledge to gain support among voters. He views Obamacare as socialize medicine which denied Americans a choice in their health care and bringing the standard down on health care for everyone. However, it also impeded on free marketing and would allow companies to compete in business among state lines. it is evident, that many Americans would agree (Millward). Obamacare remains intact, repeal and replace did not pass due to the shifting to late John McCain’s vote. Some of the points that Donald Trump wanted as Trumpcare was available tax credits to help purchase insurance according to age and income. Americans would no longer be forced to have insurance and employers would not be forced to insure the health of their workers. There would be no fines against uninsured individuals. Insurance companies would have the freedom to set their own prices. Finally, cuts would be made to woman’s healthcare by not paying for contraceptives or abortions. Some of the aspects between Obamacare and Trumpcare would remain the same such as young adults could be still covered under their parent’s insurance plan until the age of 26. Preexisting conditions cannot be denied. Maternity and preventative services would still be offered. Finally, insurance companies could not set limit on how much they have to pay in order to fully cover an individual. All these points are currently observed under Obamacare. Donald Trump believes Obamacare will fail by itself and democrats will come to republicans for a replacement plan (Millward).
There are many different reasons that some seem to believe that President Trump was elected. Thus, I have began to scratch the surface of the few chosen in which I believe held an important amount of weight with the outcome in the 2016 presidential election. For example, job security was promised, a shift of culture from the political left, the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton within her campaign, and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Regardless of Donald Trump not winning the popular vote, he did acquire the needed electoral votes to become the 45th president of the United States of America.