You know that Americans have been fleeing America’s big blue blob cities, looking for a better America for their families and children. But the people left behind in the cities aren’t happy with their leaders. Many city voters expressed their frustration by voting for Republicans, especially Trump, in greater numbers than they have in a long time. At City Journal, Reihan Salam and Charles Fain Lehman explain that city dwellers want to be great again, too. They write:
Donald Trump’s decisive victory last week came as a shock to many. The president-elect looks likely to win the popular vote, having run up totals not only in the swing states but also in deep-blue strongholds. Most surprisingly, the Trump campaign put cracks in Democrats’ dominance of big cities.
In fact, Trump most overperformed in large metro counties, according to analyst Jed Kolko. Compared with his run against Joe Biden, Trump ran 9 points closer to Kamala Harris in such areas—a bigger gain than he saw in suburbs, college towns, or military posts.
It wasn’t just a few cities, either. Trump improved on his 2020 performance in cities as diverse as Chicago, Detroit, and Dallas. He won Miami-Dade County outright. He got the closest margin for a Republican in New York City in 30 years. He won a precinct in lower Manhattan; one south Philadelphia neighborhood voted for him by almost three to one.
These swings are partly a byproduct of the surprising diversity of the Trump coalition, which exit polling suggests may have included a fifth of black men and a majority of Latino men. In New York City, Trump ran up votes not just on Staten Island, but in hyper-diverse Queens and South Brooklyn.
What happened? It’s not, as some might suspect, that the nation turned far right. Rather, it’s that Trump’s campaign understood how to speak to a key constituency: the forgotten middle. These voters want their cities to be safer, their schools to be better, and their culture to be saner. And Trump’s success with them clearly marks a path for repeatable political success in cities nationwide.
Action Line: “The forgotten middle.” You know Your Survival Guy is an advocate for the Forgotten Men and Women of America, who are left behind by bad policy and selfish politicians. In the latest election, they stood up and reminded the country that they exist and that they want to make America great again. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
