Donald Trump has won the 2024 Presidential election. The 78-year-old former President claimed victory today in a fiery election speech. He defeated current Vice President Kamala Harris by a likely electoral margin of 312-226.
The traditional liberal stronghold of Massachusetts remained out of reach for the former President despite strong performances elsewhere in the country. As a state, Massachusetts voted 61%-36% in favor of Vice President Harris.
Other than the presidential election, Massachusetts voters had five ballot measures to vote on. Question 1 asked whether or not the state would authorize the state auditor to audit the state Legislature. Question 2 asked voters if the state should repeal the requirement of student performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Question 3 was a question on whether or not ride-share drivers should be able to unionize. Four proposed legalizing psychedelic mushrooms. Question 5 asked voters whether or not to raise the tipped minimum wage and enforce a mandatory tip-pool.
Questions one, two and three passed, whereas four and five did not.
It is worth zooming in further, but we must also examine how Worcester, Clarkies, and the surrounding communities voted. Harris performed slightly better in Worcester than Massachusetts on average, winning the city at large by a margin of 63% to Trump’s 35%. Worcester residents at large voted similarly to the Massachusetts results on all ballot measures.
The results from the nearest precincts to Clark reveal interesting trends. The nearest precincts to Clark are 10th Ward Precinct 4, 10th Ward Precinct 6, 8th Ward Precinct 2, 8th Ward Precinct 3, 8th Ward Precinct 4, and 8th Ward Precinct 6. The results show that Clarkies and our neighbors are marginally more progressive than the rest of our city, and much more progressive than the rest of our country.
On average, voters in these six precincts were more supportive of Kamala Harris than Massachusetts voters at large, and much more supportive of all ballot measures than Massachusetts at large.
If voters from just Clark and its surroundings had their way, all five Massachusetts ballot measures would have passed, with the biggest difference being Question 5. Voters in these precincts voted 3 to 1 to increase the minimum of tipped workers, whereas voters in the state at large voted the measure down by a margin of nearly 30 percent.
Correction 11/11/2024: The sentence that read “Voters in these precincts voted 3 to 1 to increase the tips of minimum wage workers,” was incorrect. See the change reflected above. The Scarlet regrets this error.
