white, working-class voters have been on the decline in ohio. they made up 45% of the state<u+2019>s electorate in 2012, exit polls showed, and 43%<u+00a0>on tuesday. but they helped deliver the state for republican donald trump that mitt romney lost four years ago. that was because mr. trump boosted his party<u+2019>s margins among white voters, particularly working-class whites. mr. trump won white voters in ohio without a four-year college degree by 27 percentage points, taking 62% of their votes. mr. romney won this group in 2012, but by 14 points. mr. trump<u+2019>s success offers evidence to support a view long controversial among republicans<u+2014>that the party can win by pumping up turnout among its largely white base, rather than adopting policies on immigration or other matters that might draw in more minority voters. the share of white voters continued its long-term fall, dropping from 72% of all voters in 2012 to 70% this year. exit-poll results show how mr. trump was able to pump up his totals among this shrinking group. in florida, for instance, whites made up 62% of the electorate, down from 67% in 2012. but while mr. romney won 61% of their votes in 2012, mr. trump took 64%. that was enough to flip the state into his column. similar shifts took place across the upper midwest<u+2014>in wisconsin, michigan and ohio<u+2014>as well as in pennsylvania. michigan remains too close to call, but mr. trump moved the other states into the gop column. hillary clinton was able to make up for some of those losses with better performance than barack obama among college-educated white voters. but she was toppled by the working-class vote. <u+201c>what completely broke the machine was these massive shifts among white, noncollege voters,<u+201c> said ruy teixeira, a senior fellow at the democratic-leaning center for american progress, who has studied this voting bloc. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s the real story.<u+201d> for some, it is a validation of mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign message, which focused heavily on the idea that illegal immigration and free-trade deals had sapped jobs that should belong to struggling americans. others worry that eventually there won<u+2019>t be enough working-class white voters to deliver this sort of victory. <u+201c>at some point that strategy is going to catch up with us,<u+201d> said whit ayres, a republican pollster who advocates a broader appeal. <u+201c>he managed to slip by one more election without it, but there is no doubt<u+2026>that the proportion of whites in the national electorate is still declining and will continue to do so.<u+201d> write to laura meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com
white voters delivered a payoff - wsj
laura meckler