in detroit, hillary clinton <u+2019>s winning margin was 90,000 votes smaller than president barack obama <u+2019>s in 2012. in flint, mich., where a water crises drew visits by both presidential candidates, the democratic 2012 winning margin of 57,000 votes was cut by two-thirds. turnout was down tuesday, preliminary estimates show, but not uniformly. in urban areas that drive the democratic tally in much of the industrial midwest, there were signs african-american enthusiasm for mr. obama didn<u+2019>t fully transfer to mrs. clinton. in some of the smaller communities that powered republican donald trump to victory, meanwhile, turnout appeared to rise. the number of votes cast statewide rose in pennsylvania and florida<u+2014>formerly democratic states that mr. trump won<u+2014>as well as in michigan, where he was maintaining a lead. but nationwide, fewer voters went to the polls. mr. trump appeared to have won the election, in fact, with fewer votes than gop nominee mitt romney drew in his losing 2012 race. mr. trump in preliminary totals had about 59.6 million votes, 1.6 million shy of his party<u+2019>s total in the last election. the overall picture was of a decline in democratic support in urban areas combined with a big increase in republican margins in many communities outside urban areas. in ohio, pennsylvania and michigan, mr. trump won rural communities and manufacturing centers. stark county, ohio, home to the steel-industry hub of canton, had split its vote nearly evenly in 2012. on tuesday, mr. trump carried the county by 17 points. rural clark county, wis., backed mr. trump by 33 points, up from a 9-point gop advantage in 2012. mr. trump<u+2019>s victory was unconventional: in a nation growing more urban, he was able to excite and turn out voters from small towns and rural communities that often draw little attention in american politics. he energized white, working-class voters without pushing away as many minority voters as many analysts and opinion surveys had predicted. while african-american voters declined slightly as a share of the electorate, mr. trump did slightly better among the group than the gop did in 2012: he lost those voters by 80 points, compared with 87 in 2012. earl phillip, an african-american and former north carolina campaign director for mr. trump, said surveys he conducted in swing states this year showed that some black voters saw mr. trump as a change agent who could rebuild communities. <u+201c>we don<u+2019>t get anybody willing to say <u+2018>hey, i<u+2019>m willing to teach you how to fish so you can survive longer,<u+2019> <u+201d> he said<u+00a0>wednesday. <u+201c>we get people saying, <u+2018>here<u+2019>s the fish. see you next election.<u+2019> <u+201d> write to dante chinni at dante.chinni@wsj.com and aaron zitner at aaron.zitner@dowjones.com
voter turnout fell, with biggest declines in urban areas - wsj
aaron zitner