‘The road ahead for our democracy is perilous’: How polls missed Trump’s ‘silent majority’ voters on road to election triumph

One week ago, Donald Trump won the US Election and will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States in January, despite many pollsters predicting a Harris win just hours before polls closed.

The ‘silent majority’ is being suggested as one of the reasons for these polls being proved wrong.

The term, ‘silent majority’, was made famous by former US President Richard Nixon, referring to those who do not express their opinions publicly.

John Kenneth White, Professor of Politics at The Catholic University of America, drew parallels between Trump’s victory and Nixon’s victory in 1969, telling The Hill that: “Just as in Nixon’s time, a silent majority has arisen and made its voice heard.”

Professor White added: “For the first time since 2004, Republicans won a majority of the popular vote. Like Nixon, Trump’s victory was built upon their grievances.

“America was becoming polarised, and Republicans were able time and again to call upon their silent majority to deliver them victory.”

Ben Walker, co-founder of Britain Elects debunked this idea though and told GBNews the ‘silent majority’ did not have as great an impact as others are depicting.

He said: “It’s less ‘silent majority’ and more apathetic voters driven by resentment of the status quo and a desire to ‘shake things up’ turning out by more than anticipated to deliver better than expected results.”

He added: “The politics of ‘shake things up’ will continue to make great strides through much of the West. Centrist and centre-lite parties, struggling to secure material benefits for the voters in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, will suffer at the polls.”

Walker backed the polls and suggested other factors were the reasons for Trump’s success.

He said: “Pollsters did a much better job of surveying the voting public than in previous elections. Polls found Latino and black men saying they were moving to Trump.”

Professor White agreed with some of the external factors that contributed to Trump’s victory but did not undervalue the importance of the ‘silent majority.’

MORE LIKE THIS: