While the 2024 presidential election was one of the closest in recent history – with President-elect Donald Trump a lead of about 3 percentage points about Vice President Kamala Harris – Trump’s vote share grew in a wide range of regions across the country and among different demographic groups.
It is the first time in Trump’s three campaigns for the White House that he has outpaced his opponent at the popular voteand only the second time since 1988 that a Republican has done so. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won nearly 66 million votes (48%), compared to Trump’s nearly 63 million (46%), but Trump won the Electoral College. In 2020, he lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote to President Biden, who received about 81 million votes (51%) nationwide, compared to Trump’s 74 million (47%).
Trump’s 2024 victory was driven by improvements in support in a large majority of rural counties — more than 9 in 10 — according to data from counties where at least 95% of votes were counted Friday. Trump’s improvements spanned several regions and included urban, suburban, and rural gains.
Trump actually did better in most places where a majority of voters favored Harris, such as New Jersey, or across the Hudson River in his hometown of New York City.
The Garden State, a longtime Democratic stronghold, clearly turned in Trump’s favor. For example, the latest data shows Trump with a slim 3% lead in suburban Passaic County, where he received just 41% of the vote in 2020.
In New York City, where Trump grew up and spent most of his life before entering politics, he not only surpassed his two previous results; his roughly 30% vote share surpassed any Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan, 40 years ago.
Nearly 2,000 miles away, Maverick County, Texas, a predominantly Latino border area that Biden easily carried in 2020, swung even more, about 28 points. Trump’s 2024 performance was better than Biden’s 2020 performance, and Harris’ 2020 performance was worse than Trump’s.
CBS News exit polls from the last two elections showed Trump gaining a lead among both men and women this year. In 2020, Trump won men by a hair, 49% to 48%, but in 2024 his campaign’s efforts to woo men appear to be paying off: his support from men grew to 55%.
In 2020, Trump managed to win over 43% of female voters. In 2024, despite Democrats’ focus on female voters access to abortionwhich gave them a boost in the midterm election racesTrump has continued to increase his numbers among women, raising that figure two ticks to 45%.
Trump made gains among core groups within the traditional Republican coalition, such as evangelical voters. But he also increased his support among groups that Democrats have relied on, including young voters and Latino voters, such as those in Maverick County and another former Democratic stronghold, Miami-Dade, Florida, which Biden won in 2020 by 53%. This year, Trump carried the county with about 55% of the vote, becoming the first Republican to win there since 1988.
The chart below shows the change in support for Trump across demographic groups between 2020 and 2024.
