Election exit polls tell us the typical Trump voter was white (non-Hispanic), male, older, rural, and had no college degree. But that doesn’t explain why they voted for Trump. There were four types of Trump voters; each having different expectations.
The 2014 Pew Research Political Typology (http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/26/the-political-typology-beyond-red-vs-blue/ ) provides the best categorization of American Voters. Pew described three categories of conservative voters: “Steadfast Conservatives” (15 percent of registered voters), “Business Conservatives” (12 percent), and “Young Outsiders” (15 percent). Since these make up 42 percent of the electorate, and Trump received 46 percent of the vote, let’s add a fourth group: “Hard-pressed Skeptics” (13 percent), assuming Trump got some of these — traditionally Democratic — voters.
1.Steadfast Conservatives: Pew says, “This overwhelmingly Republican group holds very conservative attitudes across most issues, including social policy and the size and scope of government. However, they are critical of business and Wall Street. Steadfast Conservatives also express highly negative attitudes toward immigrants and take a skeptical view of U.S. global involvement.” Many of these are Tea-Party voters.