TRUMP AND REAGAN – AT 1:24 P.M. ET:   Nobody is comparing the style of Donald Trump to the optimistic, airy style of Ronald Reagan.  But, statistically, Trump may have gone far to rebuild the Reagan majority.  From IBD:

Election 2016: Did Donald Trump reconstitute the old coalition that handed President Ronald Reagan two terms in office? Looking at the data, it sure looks that way.

Yes, Trump won the election, but also did something else no one predicted: His election had coattails. Amid near-unanimous predictions that Republicans would at least lose the Senate and possibly the House, both remain in Republican control and losses were far fewer than expected.

Looking at the numbers from the final IBD/TIPP Presidential Tracking Poll and from exit polls taken right after the election, just as Reagan, Trump won substantial majorities among white voters, male voters, married voters, those with less than a college education, self-described Christian voters. But he also exceeded expectations among minorities and union members.

"These are, historically, the 'Reagan Democrats,' who gave Ronald Reagan a similarly stunning election result in 1980, and a massive landslide re-election in 1984," noted former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

He's right. Trump proved he had crossover appeal. According to exit polls posted by CNN, Trump won 9% of the Democratic vote, while Hillary Clinton won just 7% of Republicans — even though pundits were predicting a mass exodus of GOP "never Trump" voters to Hillary. It didn't happen.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing and save the column.  We really did see a political earthquake on Tuesday night. 

November 12, 2016