Kenosha---Political science professors are struggling to interpret exit polling data from the presidential election.
Speaking on the Morning Show Thursday, Jerry Mast and Jeff Roberg from Carthage College say a vote for Trump can't be equated to complete support for all of his policy proposals, including even key initiatives.
For example, 54% of the voters surveyed at the polls Tuesday opposed Trump’s cornerstone immigration proposal to build a wall between the U-S and Mexico. But 17% of them voted for Trump anyway. On another issue, 48% felt that the Affordable Health Care Act doesn't go far enough. Yet 18% of them voted Trump, even though the Republican candidate has said on numerous occasions that he wants to dismantle Obamacare.
Why the inconsistencies? Voters who supported Trump may have been enticed by the tone of his campaign rather than by specific proposals, while other supporters may have anticipated in advance, right or wrong, that he'd be willing to engage in compromise, Mast and Roberg say.
Mast cited discussions he had with students of his who said they voted for Trump. "When it comes to Obamacare or illegal immigration or relating to Muslim Americans, they all said we expect him to compromise to shift to the middle and find ways to get at some of those problems that are legitimate without some of the negative consequences that are implied by those statements or positions," Mast said.
Both Mast and Roberg said there's no evidence to indicate that Trump has a "mandate" to move forward carte blanche without first considering other factors. "They have the power to go ahead and put into effect what they want but the question is is this what the electorate was saying," Roberg said. "There are many cross currents."
To complicate things, Trump actually lost the popular vote to Clinton by about a-quarter million ballots.
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