President Donald Trump – courtesy of Catholics, evangelicals and the poor

President Donald Trump has been elected courtesy of Catholics, evangelicals and the poor according to US news analysts.

Religion was a big player in this election. In a country where over a fifth of the population identifies as Catholic, the majority voted for Trump.

This was a big swing from the previous two elections when Catholics by and large voted for President Barak Obama.

Exit polls also suggest the President-elect may have “carried the largest evangelical vote in history”.

About a quarter of Americans belonged to evangelical Christian faiths in 2011 according to a poll.

Four out of five white evangelicals said they voted for Trump. Evangelicals of colour, who represent two-fifths of all evangelical Americans supported Hillary Clinton before the election.

However, reports suggest Clinton showed up badly when Hispanic and African American evangelicals compared her with the outgoing Obama.

Meanwhile, Trump deliberately set out to corral white Christian America. Unlike Clinton, who overlooked the evangelical sector, Trump chased them during the months leading up to the election.

Like Obama, he realised their vote would count.

His running mate, Mike Pence, also realised the Catholic vote was on offer.

He saw that abortion would be a sticking point for the Catholic community.

Clinton came out as being strongly pro-abortion. Pence, on the other hand, defended the unborn in his debate with the Republican Senator Tim Kaine

The Clinton campaign also overlooked poorer white citizens. Trump picked up on their dissatisfaction.

He encouraged them to vote – to vote for change. To vote for him.

Unemployment, flat incomes, rising health care costs and poor health outcomes were topics he brought to their attention.

Their interest sparked and along with the white Christian majority they turned out and voted in high numbers.

Trump’s victory speech remembered his voters, promising to be “President for all of Americans”.

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