WASHINGTON (AP) — Big shifts within small groups and small shifts within big groups helped propel Donald Trump's return to the White House . The Republican candidate won by holding onto his traditional coalition — white voters, voters without a college degree and older voters — while making crucial gains among younger voters and Black and Hispanic men, according to AP VoteCast, a far-reaching survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris , made small gains — most significantly with white urban men with a college degree — but it wasn’t enough to offset her losses elsewhere.
Younger voters made up a bigger chunk of Trump’s coalition, compared with his voters four years ago. That happened because Trump benefited from winning slightly more than half of voters over 45, while Harris won about the same share for voters under 45. But older voters make up a larger share of the electorate than younger ones do — and that worked to Trump’s advantage.
Roughly 6 in 10 voters in the 2024 presidential election were older than 45. He kept about the same share of older voters as he did in the 2020 presidential election, but he also made small but significant gains with younger voters. In the last election, he won 4 in 10 voters under 45 years old.
In this election, he won nearly half. Looking at the youngest voters — those between 18 to 29 — Trump increased his share of the youth vote significantly. Nearly half, 46%, .