How third-party voters may have stopped Hillary’s presidency

Donald Trump defied the polls and shocked the media and the political establishment when he took several states considered “safe” and blue and turned them light red, managing to defeat Hillary Clinton in an unprecedented upset fueled by millennials and third-party voters.

Exit polls reveal how this race, which seemed all but certain for Clinton, slipped out of her grasp in just a few short hours.

Clinton was unable to wrangle the enthusiasm of millennial voters like President Obama did in 2008 and 2012. Obama won 60 percent of the millennial vote, while Clinton took just over half. Meanwhile, despite dire predictions, Trump was able to perform about as well as Mitt Romney and John McCain did with younger voters.

Clinton also didn’t match the support Obama received from African-Americans in 2012, and was unable to offset the overwhelming support Trump received from white voters. According to the CBS News exit polls, 91 percent of white Republicans voted for Trump, while just 84 percent of white Democrats voted for Clinton. This makes it likely that a portion of the Democratic base she needed either stayed home or cast a “protest vote” against her.

Third-party voters had a significant impact on key battleground races in Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin — which have all been called for Trump.