# Has anyone studied who Trump's voters voted for in 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 19, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394 "2016-11-19T02:16:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/1 "2016-11-19T02:16:12Z")
Did the people who voted for Trump vote for Romney in 2012, Obama, or did they not vote at all? I’m guessing 80-90% of Trump’s voters were Romney voters, and the remaining 10-20% were Obama voters or didn’t vote. But I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/2 "2016-11-19T02:19:08Z")
I would also like to know the answer to this. Surely there must be SOME people who voted for Obama and Trump. But those are the people whose reasoning processes I truly can’t wrap my head around. ---
**Author:** ![OriginalGangster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea5d25/32.png) [@OriginalGangster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OriginalGangster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/3 "2016-11-19T02:30:40Z")
They stayed home & watched Nascar. The outdated electoral college gave these retards some power lol ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/4 "2016-11-19T03:10:12Z")
I was reading an article today and it said that Trump apparently got about the same number of votes that Romney got in 2012. What appeared to decide the election was Clinton got significantly fewer votes than Obama got in 2012. This appears to have been pretty consistent throughout the states. I’ll admit this surprises me. Trump’s support among traditional Republicans seemed to be a lot more questionable than Clinton’s support among traditional Democrats. But the numbers seem to say that on Election Day most Republicans went out and voted for Trump while a significant number of Democrats stayed home. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/5 "2016-11-19T03:35:06Z")
Quite a number voted for Obama then Trump. **[NPR.](http://www.npr.org/2016/11/15/502032052/lots-of-people-voted-for-obama-and-trump-heres-where-in-3-charts)** Had Obama, or anyone slightly more progressive than he, run, then they would probably have stuck with the Democrats. And the necessity of keeping Hillary out forced them to vote even for someone only a slither less awful than she. Better Red Than Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/6 "2016-11-19T03:43:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was reading an article today and it said that Trump apparently got about the same number of votes that Romney got in 2012. What appeared to decide the election was Clinton got significantly fewer votes than Obama got in 2012. This appears to have been pretty consistent throughout the states. > > I’ll admit this surprises me. Trump’s support among traditional Republicans seemed to be a lot more questionable than Clinton’s support among traditional Democrats. But the numbers seem to say that on Election Day most Republicans went out and voted for Trump while a significant number of Democrats stayed home. In Pennsylvania 2016 2.90 million Trump vs 2.84 million Clinton 2012 2.99 million Obama vs 2.68 million Romney Despite there being fewer votes in 2012, Trump got about 200k more votes than Romney, Hillary got 150k less than Obama. I’m just not sure if they were Obama voters or people who didn’t vote in 2012 who shifted things. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/7 "2016-11-19T06:30:14Z")
This article has a nice map. > [@](#): > > Of the nearly 700 counties that twice sent Obama to the White House, a stunning one-third flipped to support Trump. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/obama-trump-counties/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/obama-trump-counties/) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/8 "2016-11-19T16:16:50Z")
One town’s [story](http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_582c9e20e4b099512f804de2). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/9 "2016-11-19T17:41:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was reading an article today and it said that Trump apparently got about the same number of votes that Romney got in 2012. What appeared to decide the election was Clinton got significantly fewer votes than Obama got in 2012. This appears to have been pretty consistent throughout the states. > > I’ll admit this surprises me. Trump’s support among traditional Republicans seemed to be a lot more questionable than Clinton’s support among traditional Democrats. But the numbers seem to say that on Election Day most Republicans went out and voted for Trump while a significant number of Democrats stayed home. Here’s the article I read: [The Non-Voters Who Decided The Election: Trump Won Because Of Lower Democratic Turnout](http://www.forbes.com/sites/omribenshahar/2016/11/17/the-non-voters-who-decided-the-election-trump-won-because-of-lower-democratic-turnout/#187a656c40a1) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/10 "2016-11-19T18:58:12Z")
First thing we gotta figure out is how many more votes Team Blue has to get to win. So far, roughly one and a half million more isn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/11 "2016-11-19T20:20:36Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > First thing we gotta figure out is how many more votes Team Blue has to get to win. So far, roughly one and a half million more isn’t it. Maybe because “Team Blue” is stupidly focused on numbers that don’t matter? ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/12 "2016-11-19T21:28:11Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > But those are the people whose reasoning processes I truly can’t wrap my head around. Come to the Midwest. Drive in/through the parking lot of a big three automaker’s plant. If possible go see both an urban and rural plant so you don’t think it’s just a rural/urban divide. See those vehicles with NRA and/or confederate flags stickers combined with Union Yes/Buy American bumper stickers? The owners of those vehicles aren’t hipsters being ironic. They have traditionally skewed heavily Democratic in the areas I lived in. If you really want to get a feel, go get a beer and burger at one of the bars right by the plant after shift change. Talk to them. I’ve lived and worked around them. They really do have much more in common with Trump than I do as a centrist Republican. They skew heavily towards trade and labor market protectionism. They don’t care much about social issues and generally are more moderate than liberal when they do. They tend to like guns and hunting. They don’t pay much attention to foreign affairs. When they do spin up on foreign policy it tends more towards Team America:World Police’s “America, FUCK YEAH!” than deliberately implementing soft power. They make fun of political correctness. Welcome to an important piece of what’s been the Democratic coalition in the midwest. Like Wesley Clark asked in the OP, I would love to see a detailed breakout, especially in the union household vote. What was just turnout swing and what was the swing in actual voters? I can easily wrap my head around the big swing though. It fits what many of them have been saying they wanted all along. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-studied-who-trumps-voters-voted-for-in-2012/772394/13 "2016-11-19T21:57:34Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > First thing we gotta figure out is how many more votes Team Blue has to get to win. So far, roughly one and a half million more isn’t it. Well, focus more on the battleground states…