From political pariah to the presidency.
Four years after Americans ousted then-President Trump from the White House and left Washington in political disgrace after he tried to overturn his election defeat two months later, the US government was sent back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
In a celebratory speech early Wednesday morning, President Trump pointed to his convincing electoral and popular vote victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, calling it “a political victory unlike anything our country has ever seen.”
And his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, called Trump’s victory “the greatest political reversal in American history.”
For 2024 election updates from FOX News, click here
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump take the stage during the election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In his victory speech, President Trump emphasized that his political campaign was “like no one has ever seen before…This was the greatest political campaign in history.”
For an undisciplined candidate known for hyperbole, Tuesday’s election results appeared to vindicate Trump.
“This is a historic political realignment,” said veteran Republican strategist Ryan Williams.
How Trump Won: Details from FOX News Voter Analysis
Mr. Williams argued that Mr. Trump “basically abandoned the coalition that the Republican Party had built over the past few decades and reached out and doubled down on the voting blocs he thought he could work with.”
“He just expanded the party in a way that no other candidate has been able to do before. And I think that’s why he missed this at the polls. He fundamentally changed the composition of the electorate. Because of this,” Williams emphasized.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives at the Election Night Watch Party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
Preliminary data from the FOX News Voter Analysis for the 2024 election highlights that Mr. Trump has boosted his scores among his base while narrowing the traditional Democratic lead in black, Hispanic and young voters.
Harris came close to becoming the first woman to run for president, but she has made enough gains in the ideological middle of the electorate to offset the defection of traditionally Democratic voting groups. I couldn’t do that.
Fox News Voter Analysis, a survey of more than 110,000 voters across the country, highlights key trends in the 2024 campaign.
For Trump, the 2024 campaign was a grueling two-year marathon. He announced his candidacy at the Mar-a-Lago Club in South Florida days after the 2022 midterm elections.
And he began his campaign amid criticism from many within the party that he was partly responsible for the Republican Party’s poor performance in the midterm elections.
But after a slow start, the former president came out on top in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year, ultimately easily dispatching his opponent in the Republican primary (the field at one point expanded to more than a dozen candidates last year). ).
Trump, who was indicted in four different criminal cases, saw his approval ratings soar and his fundraising soar in late spring this year after making history as the first former or current president to be convicted of a felony. .
A month later, his disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June raised questions about whether the 81-year-old president is physically and mentally ready for another four grueling years in the White House. President Biden has suffered a major setback as long-standing questions have been resurfaced. There are calls within his own party for him to resign.
Opinion polls have widened Trump’s lead over Biden, giving the former president a further political boost after he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, two days before the start of the Republican National Convention in July.
But days later, the race quickly turned upside down when Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president. Democrats quickly coalesced around Harris, and her fundraising soared as her poll numbers rose.
Harris’ honeymoon lasted until the Democratic National Convention in late August, and into September, when most observers declared Harris the winner of the only presidential debate between her and Trump.
But as the calendar turned from September to October, President Trump appeared to have regained his footing, with polls showing the former president gaining momentum.
David Kochel, a longtime Republican strategist, said we are “still in a country that is 70 percent on the wrong path. Voters wanted to see a change in who was in the White House.”
Kochel, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, said Harris has “injected energy and enthusiasm into the campaign, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. People are dissatisfied with the economy, people are dissatisfied with the economy, and the country is in the wrong.” I think we are moving in that direction.” They wanted change, but it turns out Trump won the change argument. ”
Fox News voter analysis also found that voters across the country chose Trump’s appeal to outsiders over Kamala Harris’ promise to “turn the page” on the Trump era in an election where they wanted change. Also focused.
Click to get the FOX News app
Kochel also noted that Trump’s team “ran a very effective swing state campaign with effective ads that hurt her (Harris).”
Williams also praised the Trump campaign, saying, “They had a strategy and they stuck with it. They basically just said they’re going to go with the men… They doubled down on the men… so We had a consistent strategy, and it worked.”
Williams then claimed that Harris “basically took Hillary Clinton’s strategy from 2016, zeroed it out, and made it worse.”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Carey Blast Furnace in Pittsburgh, Monday, November 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean J. Pasker)
And both strategists emphasized that Trump was able to overcome his many gaffes and controversial statements.
“We pay a lot of attention to President Trump’s crazy comments, which people think are inappropriate, and that’s not the issue,” Kocher said. “He had a better strategy and a favorable environment.”
And Williams said Trump “has a way of understanding voters and connecting with people in a way that other politicians don’t. He just speaks in his own way, straight to the point, and he eliminates a lot of misconceptions.” Despite the fact that he is not a sophisticated politician, he is considered genuine.
FOX News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Bharara contributed to this report.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
