Rural America Gave Trump the White House

"One of the biggest reasons Donald Trump shocked the world last night was that he overperformed -- big league -- in Rural America, especially in the previously blue Midwest states he flipped to surge above 270 electoral votes. Just look at these numbers:

• Michigan: Per the exit polls, Trump won rural and small towns by a 57%-38% margin -- up from Mitt Romney's 53%-46%.
• Pennsylvania: He won rural and small towns by a whopping 71%-26% -- versus Romney's 59%-40%.
• Wisconsin: He won rural and small towns by 63%-34% -- up from Romney's 53%-46%.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton slightly underperformed in these states' urban areas. Still, she carried Philadelphia by about 450,000 votes, which was the same margin Obama won in 2012. In the waning days of the 2016 election, so much of the talk was about Latinos in Florida and Nevada, or college-educated white voters in the suburbs. But the story of last night was white voters coming out in droves for Donald Trump.: msnbc