Who voted for Donald Trump? Mostly white men and women, voting data reveals

Data shows that black and minority voters supporters Ms Clinton, while whites flocked to Mr Trump

Data shows that white voters flocked to Mr Trump (AP)

White men and white women. White men and women with degrees, and without. White men and women with more than $50,000.

As the dust settled after the extraordinary victory of Donald Trump, a clearer image emerged of those who were responsible for making him President-elect.

In essence, it was white men and women of different incomes who have pushed the most unlikely presidential candidate in a century to the gates of the White House.

Exit poll data found that 52 per cent of white women voted for Mr Trump, compared with 63 per cent of white men. By comparison, 80 per cent of black men voted for Hillary Clinton, who also attracted the support of 93 per cent of black women.

Much of the rhetoric before the election pointed towards Mr Trump's support from white men, angered by the political establishment. However, exit poll data collected by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, a consortium of ABC News, the Associated Press, CBSNews, CNN, Fox News and NBC News and reported by The New York Times, gives a deeper insight into which groups his votes stemmed from.

Mr Trump's graphic and offensive comments about women were well documented throughout his campaign, which threatened to be derailed in October when a tape of Mr Trump seemingly bragging about sexually assaulting women was released. Many predicted his remarks would drive women to vote for Ms Clinton and a visible gender gap is seen in the exit poll data, however women's support for the Democrat remained fairly consistent with how they had voted in previous elections.

The gender gap for Ms Clinton – the difference between the number of men who voted for her and the number of women who voted for her – hit 13 percentage points, but Ms Clinton's support support among women was roughly even with the support that women gave Mr Obama in 2008 and 2012.

As expected, male voters supported Mr Trump, with 12 per cent more supporting the Republican candidate over his rival.

With his tough talk about building walls and his referral to Mexicans as “rapists”, Ms Clinton unsurprisingly drew far larger numbers of Hispanic, Latino and black voters to the polls.

Eighty-eight per cent of black voters supported the Democrat, while well over half of Hispanic and Latino voters also backed Ms Clinton.

Mr Trump predictably garnered the majority of the white vote, with 58 per cent casting their ballots for the Republican. But, despite his divisive rhetoric, Mr Trump held on to roughly the same share of Hispanic voters as Mitt Romney claimed four years ago. He also drew around the same level of support from black voters as Mr Romney won.

The education level of voters in the exit poll also shows key trends. Voters who had college and postgraduate education were far more likely to support Ms Clinton – only 37 per cent of voters with postgraduate qualifications backed the Republican. Those with high school and some college education or an associate degree showed more support for Mr Trump, but only by very narrow margins.

Mr Trump, who once famously declared that he loved the uneducated, got plenty of love back from white voters who never graduated from college. The advantage Mr Trump had among whites without a college degree compared with whites who graduated from college was the largest seen in exit polls for a Republican since the surveys started in 1972.

Ms Clinton, meanwhile, got the support of less than a quarter of white men without a college degree; Barack Obama, by contrast, drew about a third of their votes four years ago.

Ms Clinton largely managed to hang on to the millennials who were a big part of Mr Obama's winning coalition. Young people aged 18-29 supported Ms Clinton over Mr Trump by nearly as strong a margin as their support of Mr Obama over Mr Romney in 2012. Those between 30 and 44 also were much more likely to support Ms Clinton than Mr Trump. Mr Trump won the favour of those aged 45 or over.

Despite Mr Trump's support from the working class, exit poll data shows that over half of voters on incomes below $30,000 a year supported for Ms Clinton. Meanwhile, half of voters earning between $50,000 and $99,000 a year supported Mr Trump and he was favoured more by voters in higher income brackets – but only by very narrow margins.

Additional reporting by Press Association