18 million voters cast ballots this election despite believing that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton were qualified to be president

  • Voters who were undecided until the last minute ended up voting Trump
  • Clinton's had the worst turnout  among white working-class voters was since polling began: just 28% of white working class voters backed Clinton
  • Exit polls results suggest the electorate were influenced by the continual negative attacks each campaign lobbed at the other
  • Clinton becoming the nation's first female president was a novelty, yet her female share of the vote polled at 54% -  no better than average
  • Clinton's performance among men worst by any democrat since 2002
  • Trump pulled in the highest vote since 2000 among white evangelicals grabbing 81% 

Around 18 million people voted in Tuesday's election even though they held the belief that neither candidate was suitable to be America's next president.

Voters faced an impossibly dilemma after the dirtiest campaign in recent history left many in the electorate thinking that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton were qualified to be Commander in Chief. 

Thanks to exit polls and deeper analysis of the votes cast, it appears around 14 of all voters ended up breaking for Trump: 69% to 15%.

Exit polls showed that voters had to pick the best of a bad bunch - and when they did so, they opted for Trump

Exit polls asked voters which candidate they thought was best qualified to serve as president and which was more honest 

Few African-American voters chose Clinton than in 2008

Al Gore in his failed 2000 bid garnered 90% of the black vote compared to Clinton's 88% this time around

Furthermore, around 1 in 7 in that group ended up voting for the two Independent Candidates, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. 

Many of those who were undecided were were independent voters, with them ultimately breaking for  38% Republicans and 18% Democrats. 

Research by CNN suggests that if these voters decided not to vote, then Hillary Clinton would have won with a landslide victory of 53% to Trump's 44%. 

Both parties will be looking through the exit polls to try and understand how the election was won and lost in each state and county.

Clinton did worse among voters without a college degree garnering just 45%

Trump fared better than the previous two election for Republicans while Clinton nosedived

However, this election brought out many more factors than simply Democratic and Republican aligned political views.

With many in the electorate warming to neither candidate, the voters who expressed their dislike of both Trump and Clinton ended up swaying towards Trump when it came to the ballot box.

29% of voters said neither candidate was honest, with 45% voting for Trump compared to 40% for Clinton. 

Of the same 29%, when asked about the concerns and fears about the nominees, once again Trump came out on top garnering 49% with just 29% opting to vote for Clinton.

The exit polls results suggest the electorate was influenced by the continual negative attacks each campaign lobbed at the other. 

College graduate went for Clinton but she still drew less than Obama did in 2008

Clinton performed worse among white voters than any election since 2000 while Trump did far better since '00

The idea of Clinton becoming the nation's first female president was a novelty, yet her female share of the vote polled at 54% - which was no better than average.

Among men, her performance was even worse at 41% - a drop of nine points since 2008 and the worst since husband Bill ran for the White House in 2002. 

While Clinton virtually assumed voted by African-American's were in the bag, she still drew fewer that Al Gore polled in 2000 when he secured 90% of the black vote, compared to Clinton's 88%.

Among the young, the exits polls suggest Clinton drew just over 50% of the vote - well below Obama's 66% in 2008. 

Even among women, Clinton's share of the vote at 54% was just average. Trump didn't endear females to his campaign either with just 42% casting their votes for him

Even among white voters, the support was dire at 37%. The lowest for any Democrat in the past seven elections. 

Bill Clinton, drew 39% of the white vote in 1992, and Obama pulled in 43% in 2008.

College graduates showed up for Clinton and she managed to secure 45% of the vote from those with college degrees. But for those without degrees, her success was also 45% - the lowest since Bill Clinton ran for office in 1992. 

In working class voting circles, the result was again, abysmal. 28% of white voters without degrees backed Clinton. 

On the opposite side, Trump appeared to find the light with white evangelicals pulling in 81% of the votes, surpassing levels set by Mitt Romney, John McCain or George W. Bush. 

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