The Trump effect happened in Massachusetts, too
The same working-class voters who upended expectations in the Midwest and carried Donald Trump into the White House also turned out in Massachusetts. And while their turnout didn’t bring Trump any closer to victory in the solidly liberal state, it gave the first hint of a possible long-term realignment in local politics.
A Globe analysis of the state’s election results showed a reddening of the state’s western counties, including a suite of rural towns that made the jump from Democrat to Republican on Tuesday. At the same time, the more diverse tract between Boston and Worcester moved in the other direction, handing their votes to Hillary Clinton in numbers that President Obama never enjoyed.
For a Republican candidate, Trump did unusually well in Massachusetts communities with significant numbers of working-class whites, but did not win votes among more highly educated voters. The results serve as a reminder that Massachusetts — while one of the most liberal states in the country — is not immune to the political forces that reshaped the electoral map Tuesday.
“The question that emerges is if this election was a one-off or represents a fundamental realignment of the two political parties,” said Jeffrey Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University. “If it is a realignment, we can expect to see Western Mass. move toward the Republican Party, but since other areas are moving toward the Democratic Party, there might not be a lot of net gain for the GOP.”
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