President-elect Donald Trump made huge gains with black, Hispanic and young voters in New York this election — bringing him closer to turning the deep-blue state red than any Republican candidate has come in a generation.
Trump siphoned off significant support from all three reliably Democratic voting blocs, culminating in a historically poor showing in the Empire State for Vice President Kamala Harris, who won just 55.8% of the vote statewide.
Broken down demographically, a portrait of the Democrats’ colossal failure becomes painfully clear.
Among Hispanic voters, Trump captured 35% of the vote, a ten-point improvement over his 2020 showing, according to voter analysis conducted by Fox News in collaboration with the Associated Press.
Harris, meanwhile, picked up 64% of the Hispanic vote, a 10-point drop from President Biden’s 74% from four years ago.
Trump also doubled his support among black voters in New York this year, claiming 16% to Harris’ 83%. In 2020, Biden won 91% of the vote while Trump eked out 7% — an average showing for a Republican in New York, the analysis shows.
In both cases, the President-elect’s gains were matched by embarrassing declines from the Democrats, who, astonishingly, did worse among black voters than in the last election despite Harris being a woman of color.
Additionally, Trump snapped up support from 43% of New York voters under age 30 in 2024, compared to a little over half (57%) who threw their support behind Harris, according to the data.
In 2020, roughly two-thirds (64%) of young New York voters supported Biden in his winning 2020 White House bid, while Trump picked up 32%.
In the ultra-progressive Big Apple specifically, 30.45% of voters pulled the lever for Trump, compared to 67.7% for Harris, according to the city Board of Elections. That’s almost 10 points lower than Biden, who notched 75.7% of the vote in 2020, and more than 10% lower than Hillary Clinton in her unsuccessful 2016 run.
The President-elect did especially well in the Bronx, where ballots bearing his name soared 35% between 2020 and 2024, according to the city data. This year 91,542 residents voted for the Republican compared to just 67,740 when he faced off against Biden.
In the Castle Hill section of the Bronx at The Knockout Barber Shop, where Trump visited in October, patrons and workers alike had a range of theories to explain Harris’ spectacular belly-flop in the borough.
David Orellano, 21
Orellano, a real estate agent and lifelong Bronx resident, said Harris didn’t appear authentic.
“I think she wasn’t able to connect with the Hispanic and black vote in the Bronx. I’m Hispanic and she had trouble connecting with me,” he told The Post.
“Look at the economy, look at the border, look in Manhattan, where you have hotels full of migrants with more rights than us,” he added.
“She doesn’t come off as authentic as she wants to be. Trump came to the Bronx twice and a lot of Bronx residents saw that the Democrats aren’t doing much for the community.”
Javier Rodriguez Sr., 59
Rodriguez Sr., a barber and a 40-year borough resident, echoed the same sentiment, saying Trump did a better job at genuinely connecting with the community.
“Donald Trump came here and it made a big difference in the Bronx,” Rodriguez Sr. said.
“This lady never showed up here. Never told us about her policies, and a lot of people realized what was going on here,” he added, hailing the President-elect as “a fighter” and “a champion” for giving a White House run another shot after his stinging 2020 defeat.
“In 2020 he went down, but he came back in 2024 very confidently and he knocked them out. It’s a beautiful story — he came off the match stronger than he was when he went down. He knocked them all out. He stood up and he did it again.”
Javier Rodriguez Jr., 33
Rodriguez Jr., Knockout Barbershop’s owner and operator, said Harris fell short in the skills department in the eyes of young Bronx voters, compared to the former and future president.
“We call it a skill gap. It means one side does it better and the business, or the win, goes to them. Whatever your skill, that makes you look better than the other person. That’s how we describe it in our culture. The Bronx voters, they saw the skill gap between Kamala and Trump, absolutely,” he said.
“Trump just proved his skill — the skill gap was obvious to everyone and he won. Everybody said she’d win the popular vote and maybe he’d win this or that, but that didn’t happen. We saw the red wave.”
Trump also made surprising gains elsewhere in the Big Apple — including Manhattan, where he racked up an impressive 103,060 votes this year, a 20% surge compared to 2020.
Young Manhattanites also believed Trump was more authentic — and they weren’t convinced Harris would usher in any real change.
Chori Brendan, 22
Brendan, who works in security and lives in Harlem, believes young people voted for Trump over Harris because the vice president comes off as fake.
“She tried to portray herself as one of us, but she is not. When you know your audience, you attract them. She never connected with young New Yorkers, like me,” Brendan told The Post in Harlem.
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The young New Yorker also said Trump is better equipped to handle the migrant crisis plaguing the city.
“Trump said he’s going to send them back. I want him to send them back, especially the ones who are hurting people,” he said.
“I want New York to go back to what it was before they started busing migrants here. We had problems, but we don’t need them to add to it.”
Papu R., 26
Papu, who declined to give his full surname, said Harris failed to show young voters how she would be any different from Biden.
“When Sleepy Joe stepped down, we didn’t see any change,” the Harlem retail worker said.
“This new generation, if they don’t see it, if it’s not in front of their face, they are not going to react. Someone can’t preach something, talk about change… you have to see something. It was all talk. We can see through the bulls–t. She was just an extension of Biden, nothing new.”
Meanwhile, in Midtown, some young voters were in a state of disbelief following Harris’ historic collapse.
“I think, unfortunately, people are not ready for a woman president even though she has all the correct policies and would do everything to benefit New York and the nation,” said Sydney Stewart, 26, who works in the corporate fashion business.
“She was better qualified. This is a loss, not just for New Yorkers, but all Americans.”
Stewart said she hopes Tuesday’s result doesn’t portend that New York is on the path to becoming a red state, “but based on the result, I don’t know what to think,” she conceded.
Undeterred, Stewart said she hopes Harris dusts herself off for another go-round in the next election.
“I hope that she comes back and people understand how great she is and blows the 2028 election out of the water. What were they thinking? I don’t know. It’s insanity.”
Joceline Vargas, 24
Jocelyn, a junior at John Jay College who comes from a family of immigrants, chalked Trump’s stellar New York showing in part — particularly among young people — to a glut of questionable info on social media, which hinders many people her age from becoming savvy news consumers.
“A lot of things are shared on social media that are not shared in the news. TikTok and Instagram are not always true, but that’s where a lot of the new generation gets their information. Personally I believe the news is biased and that they don’t always share the truth,” she said.
“Some young people will believe everything.”
