For the Record's Week in Review: Coming to terms with Trump

When we started For the Record more than a year ago, we had no idea how this week would go. Sure, we figured it would be a close election. But at that point, Jeb Bush was still the favored GOP candidate.
Jeb Bush, people.
Let’s take a few minutes to recap what we’ve done

ELECTION NIGHT: FROM SURE THING TO WAIT, WHAT?

Everyone was predicting a Hillary Clinton win. Well, everyone except that one LA Times poll. Some models had Clinton winning with more than 300 electoral votes – even after polls in the first states had closed. But that changed quickly as results streamed in – so quickly that Election Night broadcasters hardly knew what to say. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about lost his ever-lovin’ mind on air.
Clinton remains ahead in the popular vote. But that’s not how we elect presidents. We do it via the Electoral College, which technically hasn’t voted yet, but barring a slew of rogue electors, is on track to award more than 300 votes to Trump (he needed 270 to win).

SO, WHAT HAPPENED?

Patience, grasshopper. The votes are still being counted in some states. But here are a few interesting nuggets from exit polling (which you can take with a big grain of salt, because exit polls are reliably unreliable): Men tended to vote for Trump and women tended to vote for Clinton. But education matters. Women without college degrees chose Trump resoundingly over Clinton. Working-class whites overall were a huge boon for Trump, while Clinton failed to capture as much of the Black, Latino and Millennial vote as Obama did in 2012.