INDIANAPOLIS – Now that Indiana voters have spoken, we’re looking at our state’s election trends and how the votes compared to the last election in 2016.
County by county, election results have come in and for Indiana, the results are on-trend.
“Indiana is a Republican state and there’s really nothing that has changed in that regard,” said Steven Webster, the Assistant Professor for Political Science at Indiana University, “I think the story here is one of consistency.”
Compared to the previous election the results, don’t surprise experts, other than this. “If anything is surprising it’s the margin of victory, in this case, it’s towards the Republican party,” said Laura Wilson, the Associate Professor for Political Science at the University of Indianapolis.
Webster believes fewer voters casting ballots for third-party candidates has resulted in better results for Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
“He’s doing about four points better in Monroe County than Hillary Clinton did, but Donald Trump has been able to offset that throughout the rest of the state,” added Webster.
As for the race for Indiana Governor, for Wilson, she believes the numbers across the state show that voters are aligning with the Republican party.
“And I don’t think it’s at a loss for the Democrats, certainly the state Democratic party will want to do some soul searching,” explained Wilson, “But finding candidates and values policies and issues that resonate with voters.”
And it’s one type of voter that’s become a new trend impacting our state.
“The suburbs have moved towards the Democrats, particularly driven by women and college-educated whites, but this again is not necessarily particular to Indiana, but we are seeing it play out in our own state,” said Webster.
So, what does this say about Indiana voters? Although results were on-trend experts say, those long, early voting lines and turn out shows that Hoosiers want their voices heard.
“Traditionally, high numbers of early turnout does benefit the Democratic party, but in this case, I think what you’ve seen is that the candidates, the policies, and the issues are going to dominate that,” said Wilson.
Webster added, “I think the narrative surrounding this election is still evolving.”
