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Election takeaways: Trump’s decisive victory in a deeply divided nation [Video]
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Election takeaways: Trump’s decisive victory in a deeply divided nation [Video]

Donald Trump scored a decisive victory in a deeply divided nation. And in so doing, the Republican president-elect exposed a fundamental weakness within the Democratic base and beat back concerns about his moral failings, becoming the first U.S. president with a felony conviction.The Republican former president won over voters with bold promises that his fiery brand of America-first economic populism and conservative culture would make their lives better.Still, he is set to enter the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, from an undisputed position of strength. With votes still being counted, he could become the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote.The results left Democrats facing an urgent and immediate reckoning, with no obvious leader to unite the anti-Trump coalition and no clear plan to rebuild as an emboldened Trump prepares to re-take Washington.Here are some key takeaways:With modest shifts, Trump undermines the Democrats coalitionBlack voters men and women have been the bedrock of the Democratic Party, and in recent years, Latinos and young voters have joined them.All three groups still preferred Democrat Kamala Harris. But preliminary data from AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, suggested that Trump made significant gains.Voters under age 30 represent a fraction of the total electorate, but about half of them supported Harris. Thats compared to the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Slightly more than 4 in 10 young voters went for Trump, up from about one-third in 2020.At the same time, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago, according to AP VoteCast.About 8 in 10 Black voters backed Harris, down from the roughly 9 in 10 who backed Biden. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trumps support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020. Collectively, those small gains yielded an outsize outcome.Trump focus on immigration, economy and culture workedTrump ultimately won over voters with grand promises to improve the economy, block the flow of immigrants on the Southern border and his siren call to make America great again.He also appealed to religious voters in both parties by seizing on the Democrats’ support for the transgender community.Overall, about half of Trump voters said inflation was the biggest issue factoring into their election decisions. About as many said that of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to AP VoteCast.He papered over the fact that the economy, by many conventional metrics, is robust inflation is largely in check, and wages are up while border crossings have dropped dramatically.He also sold them on the promise of the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, although he has not explained how such an operation would work. And he is threatening to impose massive tariffs on key products from China and other American adversaries, which economists warn could dramatically boost prices for average Americans.Ultimately, Trump’s victory may have had as much to do with the fundamental challenges Harris faced all along. Facing deep voter frustration over the direction of the country with Biden’s approval rating dismal she never did distance herself from her party’s sitting president. Though Trump has now been the central figure in American politics for nine years, he convinced voters he represented change.Trump will take charge of a nation with deep fissuresTrump is poised to inherit a nation with deepening political and cultural fissures and a worried electorate.When asked what most influenced their vote, about half of voters cited the future of democracy. That was higher than the share who answered the same way about inflation, immigration or abortion policy. And it crosses over the two major parties: About two-thirds of Harris voters and about a third of Trump voters said the future of democracy was the most important factor in their votes.Thats not surprising given the rhetoric of the campaign.Trump refused to acknowledge his 2020 defeat and watched his supporters ransack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress convened to certify Democrat Joe Bidens victory. Trump even mused two days before Election Day that he shouldnt have left the White House after repeatedly promising retribution to his political enemies.Harris, by the end of the campaign, joined other critics including some of Trumps former White House chief of staff in describing the former president as a fascist. Trump, meanwhile, labeled Harris a fascist and a communist.Trumps criminal convictions not an issue for many votersIncomplete returns show that Donald Trumps criminal convictions, additional pending indictments and any concerns over his most incendiary rhetoric simply were not a sufficient concern to keep tens of millions of Americans from voting for him.According to AP VoteCast, slightly more than half of voters said Harris has the moral character to be president, compared to about 4 in 10 who said that about Trump. Its quite possible, as Trump has said many times on the campaign trail, that his legal peril actually helped him.As it stands, Trump may never actually face sentencing in a New York business fraud case in which he was convicted of 34 felonies. For now, his sentencing is scheduled for later this month.Hes already had one federal indictment in Florida dismissed, sparing him from a trial on whether he flouted U.S. law on protecting national security secrets. And hes made clear he would use his power as president to spike the federal case against him for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. That would leave a Georgia racketeering case pending against Trump and others accused of trying to subvert the 2020 election result.Abortion on the ballotIt was the first presidential election after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a womans national right to terminate a pregnancy. It was also the first time that a Republican presidential candidate overly courted men.But the “gender gap” that resulted was not enough to sink Trump.About half of women backed Harris, while about half of men went for Trump, according to AP VoteCast. That appears largely consistent with the shares for Biden and Trump in 2020.Democrats face leadership crisis with urgent need to regroupJust a few months ago, Harris generated incredible excitement across the party. She raised more than a billion dollars seemingly overnight. She dominated her debate with Trump. She filled arenas. And just days ago drew a massive crowd to the Ellipse and National Mall.But in the end, it wasn’t enough.Meanwhile, Republicans have claimed control of the Senate, ousting veteran Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and putting several other Democratic incumbents on the edge of defeat. The results will give Trump a significant advantage in pushing his agenda through Congress. Their only hope is to win a House majority built mostly through key suburban districts in California and New York, but that was far from certain early Wednesday.And either way, the results shrink Democrats geographic footprint and, with Browns loss, diminish the kind of working class voice that can counter Trumps appeal.Trump already succeeded in painting Democrats as out-of-touch culturally with middle America. Now Democrats are left to wonder how to reconnect with parts of the country and slices of the electorate that rejected them.

‘UPFRONT’ recap: Baldwin, Hovde lay out closing arguments in battle for U.S. Senate [Video]
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‘UPFRONT’ recap: Baldwin, Hovde lay out closing arguments in battle for U.S. Senate [Video]

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin says she’s prepared to vote to eliminate the filibuster in order to codify Roe v. Wade but would rather work to reform it instead.”I am, but I’d rather reform it,” Baldwin said on WISN’s ‘UPFRONT,’ which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “I would rather reform it, and that would be what I would push for.”During an interview in Waukesha County, Baldwin said she wouldn’t concede or negotiate with Republicans if they controlled either chamber and pushed for any type of national abortion ban.”Republicans, if they are in control, are not going to do anything other than try to pass a national abortion ban, and I can’t compromise on those grounds,” she said. “If I had a dozen Republicans who came to me tomorrow and said, ‘We’re ready to vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act with this little tweak or that’ sure, we’d be talking. That’s not where they’re at.” On immigration, Baldwin again criticized Republicans for failing to back the Senate immigration bill but disputed the legislation was needed to solve a problem created by Democrats and the Biden administration. “It would be a lot more secure if we had passed the bipartisan border security bill,” Baldwin said. “It’s something we need to do to deal with the southern border. Who would suggest that people fleeing violence, people fleeing hunger from other countries are a Democrat or a Republican?”Baldwin said any undocumented immigrant “who’s committed crime should be deported” but said a “bipartisan solution” is needed for others. “Well, look at Dreamers,” she said. “There’s a whole range of folks who don’t have any documentation. Some of them came here as babies. They have grown up here. They know no other country. They work as nurses and teachers in our communities. I think they deserve a pathway to citizenship. We need to vet everybody who is in this country. Anyone who’s committed a crime should be deported. And I think that if we look at our economy here in Wisconsin, dairy farming would collapse tomorrow if we didn’t have immigrant labor that was able to get the work visas that they needed. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. I don’t think you can do one broad brush stroke and deal with every part of this.”Baldwin won her race six years ago by 11 points. The latest Emerson College poll shows a tied race 48-48%.”I think that people have on some issues sort of gone into their partisan camps,” she said. “Look, we’re going to push for the entire Democratic ticket from the very top to the very bottom. The presidential race is as tight as this U.S. Senate race is, and we’re just all, need all of us to just sprint to the finish line.” Meanwhile, Baldwin’s GOP challenger, Eric Hovde, says a Trump victory in Wisconsin would boost his chances in the razor-thin race.”It would certainly be helpful,” Hovde said. “And I think he is going to win the state. Look, there’s a very small percentage of Trump voters that aren’t voting for me yet. We think we’ll close that gap. But we have a group of voters that are voting for me that don’t appear to be voting for President Trump … But obviously, if President Trump wins, it would be helpful to my campaign.” Hovde said he “understands” Trump’s proposal for no tax on tips or overtime but added the details would be critical. “I understand no tax on tips, and you’re talking small revenue numbers,” Hovde said. “Look, again, I understand and the desire and trying to help those people in that position,” he added. “The issue becomes you just have to make sure that work that is truly overtime work, not people classifying you know I’m working 30 hours and then the next 10 is overtime. So it all gets tied up in the definition.” Hovde said he backs Trump’s proposal for a “mass deportation” but doesn’t back the idea of local police or federal agents going door-to-door. “No, I think you start by prioritizing,” Hovde said. “Where are these 50,000 military-age Chinese men that we know are largely engaging in two things, cybercrime and lacing pills and marijuana with fentanyl? Let’s go after and get these people out.”Hovde also backed Congress having to potentially approve billions of dollars for the deportations. “It’s going to save us enormous amounts of money, whatever it costs to get get rid of them,” Hovde said. “I cannot believe we’re giving cash payments and free housing to illegal immigrants when we have veterans and people in need in this country. So, no, the savings will be significant given the amount that we spent.” On abortion, Hovde reaffirmed he doesn’t “believe in a national abortion ban” and that “a woman should have a right to choose early on in their pregnancy.” “I don’t think it’s, first of all, it’s not going to come before the Senate,” Hovde said. “Anybody that’s telling you that this is going to be addressed is lying unless you break the filibuster, and I don’t support breaking the filibuster because you have to have control of the White House, 60 seats in the Senate which rarely ever happened, and control of the House. So here’s where it’s going to be decided. I think it needs to be decided state by state. Each state can take their solution. We, in the state of Wisconsin, are fully capable of dealing with this in Wisconsin.” Hovde was asked whether current law in Wisconsin, which is about 20 weeks, is considered early on in pregnancy and within his policy position.”Yeah, look, if you look at Western Europe, they resolved this a long time ago,” he said. “Germany’s 12 weeks. I think France is 14 or 15 weeks. Netherlands is 18 weeks. I think at some point at the end of the first trimester, the beginning, you know, kind of the middle of the second trimester.”