This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Scott Pelley examined the 2024 election, a contest that saw former President Donald Trump sweep all seven battleground states and become the first Republican president in 20 years to win the popular vote. County by county, state by state, voters shifted to the right, even in demographic and geographic strongholds thought to be Democratic. To understand the reasons behind the widespread red shift, 60 Minutes spoke with Anthony Salvanto, CBS News' executive director of elections and surveys.
According to Salvanto, there are three main factors behind voters' support of President-elect Donald Trump this election. The role of the economy One of the most important factors in this year's election is the economy, specifically inflation. All throughout the pre-election polling, Salvanto said, voters marked it as the top issue, and Trump had always had an advantage with people who said the economy was their top concern.
Salvanto said that, when he highlighted features pointing to the economy's strength, including steady GDP growth and a low unemployment rate, voters told him their personal experience made them feel otherwise. "They were seeing that playing out in inflation, in higher prices at the grocery store and, for a long stretch, at the gas pump," Salvanto said. For Roz Werkheiser, inflation has been as contagious as the pandemic that set it off.
A diner manager in eastern Pennsylvania's Northampton County, Werkeiser said the rising cost of .
