Election takeaways: Trump's decisive victory in a deeply divided nation

WASHINGTON -

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.

Trump won over frustrated voters with bold promises that his fiery brand of America-first economic populism and conservative culture would make their lives better. He will be tested immediately, however, and there are reasons to believe his plans for mass deportations and huge tariffs may hurt the very people who enabled his victory.

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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' coalition

Black 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 120,000 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. That's 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. Trump's 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 worked

For all of the showmanship, profanity and name-calling, Trump 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 talked right past the facts and through relentless repetition convinced voters.

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 fissures

Trump 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.

That's not surprising given the realities of the Trump era and 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 Biden's victory. Trump even mused two days before Election Day that he "shouldn't have left" the White House after repeatedly promising retribution to his political enemies.

Harris, by the end of the campaign, joined other critics -- including Trump's former White House chief of staff -- in describing the former president and now president-elect as a "fascist." Trump, meanwhile, labeled Harris a "fascist" and a "communist."

Trump's criminal baggage not an issue for many voters

Incomplete returns show that Donald Trump's 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. It's 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.

He's 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 he's 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.

'Bro' politics beats out abortion concerns

It was the first presidential election after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a woman's national right to terminate a pregnancy. It was also the first time that a Republican presidential candidate overly courted males with a hypermasculine approach.

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 regroup

Just 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 Brown's loss, diminish the kind of working class voice that can counter Trump's 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.