Donald Trump’s road to victory as predicted ran through Pennsylvania. It was his triumph there that proved the tipping point.
So what swung the crucial swing state for him and what does it tell us about his stunning victory nationwide?
We heard so much that this election was unprecedented and was breaking the mould. In the end, it may have boiled down to something more familiar, a storyline we have all heard before.
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In two weeks, we criss-crossed Pennsylvania talking to voters and gauging their mood.
It’s the suburbs of the big cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, that will have been the most pivotal.
And in those suburbs we heard the same message again.
Life has been just too expensive under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and voters wanted change. It was the economy motivating them most.
One of the Democrats’ biggest mistakes, it may turn out, was their belief they could pull some kind of mind trick on the electorate and present an incumbent vice president as a change candidate.
Voters we spoke to just did not buy it.
And for too many, Harris was just not likeable enough either. Many told us they would vote for her but only because she wasn’t Donald Trump.
When it came to Trump, voters were able to look beyond his many failings because they liked his policies and record.
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How Trump won election night
A simple comparison
In the end, for many it seemed to boil down to a simple comparison.
Were their four years under Biden as easy and affordable as they were under Trump? And the answer was emphatically no.
Rose-tinted glasses, “Trumpnesia” and wishful thinking may all have played a part, but if the economy was improving they said they just weren’t feeling it.
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There will be many other reasons for Trump’s victory, some brought on by the Democrats themselves
They seemed out of touch, their candidate aloof and entitled, said some. The multi-millionaire showbiz support acts they enlisted probably only made that worse.
Chaos overseas, wars abroad, immigration and the border were issues too on the doorstep, but the cost of living was the theme that came up most of all.
It’s the economy, stupid
There has been a lot of talk about this election being unlike any other. It was extraordinary in many ways.
But in the final analysis, we have heard the storyline so many times before.
Americans felt worse off than they did four years ago. It was yet again the economy, stupid.
Voters wanted change and that is what they believe they have voted for.
