The exit polls from Virginia expose looming problems for Trump in 2018

pulse

November 8, 2017 6:18 PM

Data collected by pollsters after the election showed how antipathy to the president seemingly shaped a mini-wave of Democratic victories in Virginia.

Election Day 2017 is bad news for President Donald Trump.
Democrats had a much bigger victory than anticipated across the board, and exit polls show that discontent with Trump is partly to blame.

Political forecasters pored over the results of Virginia's 2016 election on Tuesday night and came away with one overwhelming conclusion: It was bad news for President Donald Trump.

As the results of Tuesday's election in Virginia began to stream in, political pundits and observers noted the somewhat surprising strength of the Democratic victory in the commonwealth.

The raw facts alone show how badly Republicans were defeated: Virginia governor-elect Ralph Northam, a Democrat, beat his Republican opponent Ed Gillespie by eight percentage points, a larger margin than many recent public polls had predicted, while Democrats unexpectedly took control of the Virginia House, picking up 14 seats.

And data collected by pollsters after the election showed how antipathy to the president seemingly shaped a mini-wave of Democratic victories in Virginia.

While data analysts often note that exit polls don't always provide completely accurate information, Tuesday's numbers provide some insight into the depth of distaste for Trump.

Here are relevant points,

an enormous shift
made up
noted

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Tuesday's elections were a referendum on the president.

Rep. Scott Taylor, a Virginia Republican, told The New York Times that Trump's "divisive rhetoric" was to blame for the widespread Republican defeat on Tuesday. He said he knew candidates who lost to Democrats he'd never even heard of.

"I do believe that this is a referendum on this administration," Taylor said. "Democrats turned out tonight, but I'm pretty sure there were some Republicans who spoke loudly and clearly tonight as well."

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