As the professional political class continues to debate the reasons for Donald Trump’s victory, those who voted for him are very clear on why he won and what they expect from him once he’s in office. This was a vote for “drastic change”. They don’t want Trump to act more “presidential” (well, they’d like him to stop tweeting so much). But, overall the message and the messenger are one in the same. Only a “bull-in-the-china-shop” type candidate is capable of breaking up the dysfunction and “corruption” they see in Washington. Most important, his voters aren’t holding him to each and every promise he made on the trail – even his most high-profile ones. What they do expect is an improved economy, more jobs and the end of Obamacare.
This is the takeaway I got from attending a focus group this week of twelve Cleveland-area voters who supported Trump. The group was conducted by preeminent pollster Peter Hart for the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. CONT.
Amy Walter, Cook Political Report