即使在通常支持民主党的新英格兰地区，特朗普也取得了显著的进展
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 7 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）正如预期的那样，新英格兰选民在周二晚上将他们的州交给了副总统卡马拉·哈里斯，但在这一结果背后，是同样的右倾迹象，这种右倾在全国范围内展开，并让唐纳德·特朗普获得了决定性的胜利。《波士顿环球报》记者萨曼莎·J·格罗斯对此作了下述报道。
虽然特朗普在民主党马萨诸塞州仍然普遍不受欢迎，但他在 2020 年的表现提高了约 4 个百分点，甚至扭转了 24 个社区。即使在这里，这种右倾也为陷入困境的州共和党在灯塔山带来了胜利，也为新英格兰的其他共和党人带来了胜利。
在新罕布什尔州，共和党在两院都取得了进展，并赢得了一场公开的州长竞选，这是该国竞争最激烈的一次。缅因州第二国会选区面积广阔，特朗普在新英格兰地区拥有唯一的选举人票。在自由派佛蒙特州，共和党赢得足够席位，消除了民主党在州议会的否决权多数，而在罗德岛，特朗普的表现比前两次竞选提高了近 8 个百分点。这是自 1988 年乔治·H·W·布什以来，共和党首次在罗德岛州获得 40% 的选票。
马萨诸塞州众议院议长罗恩·马里亚诺称这次选举对民主党来说是“警钟”。共和党主席艾米·卡内瓦莱表示，选举结果表明“许多美国工人和马萨诸塞州的在职居民认为他们的担忧没有得到倾听。”
政治战略家表示，特朗普更直接地向那些担心商品成本和该州不断增长的移民人口对其社区的影响的人讲话。
“归根结底，昨天的结果表明，共和党人更关注对民众重要的问题，”共和党民意调查员乔恩·麦克亨利说。“他们高度关注经济，非常关注非法移民问题，这对马萨诸塞州产生了巨大影响。”
根据初步结果，特朗普今年在马萨诸塞州获得的选票比 2020 年多出约 48,000 张，占总选票的 36% 以上，而与拜登的选举相比，这一比例约为 32%。他在该州 351 个社区中的近 80 个社区赢得了多数选票，其中一些社区明显倾向于这位前总统。
特朗普在这里的大部分支持来自马萨诸塞州东南部、伍斯特县农村和康涅狄格州边境附近的马萨诸塞州西部。
麦克亨利表示，虽然马萨诸塞州共和党的支持率远不足以“克服数十年来的党派模式和投票”，但民主党处理移民和经济问题的方式引发的负面情绪足以“提高唐纳德·特朗普的总体支持率”。
在劳伦斯和切尔西这两个拉丁裔占多数的社区，特朗普的领先优势增加了两位数，这与他在全国拉丁裔选民（尤其是男性）中取得的进展如出一辙。仅在波士顿，三年前，波士顿就选举了一位有色人种女性担任市长，并以毫不掩饰的进步主义平台参选，他的得票率就从 2020 年的 15% 上升到了 20%。该州人口最多的城市伍斯特、斯普林菲尔德、剑桥和洛厄尔也出现了同样的情况。
共和党州众议员唐纳德·黄表示，最终，“人们试图关注这两个参选人……希望他们真正相信特朗普将如何管理这个国家。”
“我认为特朗普领导下的外交政策可能会更好。”黄说，他住在索格斯，索格斯是北部郊区，已成为全国情绪的风向标。该镇在 2016 年支持特朗普，2020 年支持拜登，今年再次支持特朗普。
特朗普的支持者参加了在韦斯特波特 White’s 举行的马萨诸塞州 2024 年选举之夜观看派对。
特朗普的支持者参加了在韦斯特波特 White’s 举行的马萨诸塞州 2024 年选举之夜观看派对。Barry Chin/Globe Staff
在采访中，共和党选民一再表示，经济和移民问题以及他们对特朗普会解决这些问题的信念促使他们投票给他。
来自波士顿的 54 岁生活教练弗兰克·肯尼 (Frank Kenny) 投票给了特朗普，他说他怀疑人们是用钱包投票的。
“人们说特朗普是野兽之类的话——媒体毁了它。但情况更好[在特朗普的第一任期内]，”他说。“人们在赚钱。”
来自诺福克的首次投票者马特·约翰逊表示，移民因素是本届选举季对他影响最大的因素，尤其是今年夏天，他所在城镇一所前监狱开设了移民收容所。
“我觉得很多[移民]来到这里，得到了食品券、住房和所有这些东西，这些东西应该属于其他住在这里的人，”36 岁的约翰逊说。
来自西罗克斯伯里的 59 岁保险推销员路易斯·默里在 2016 年、2020 年以及选举日再次投票支持特朗普。
不过，今年他说他对特朗普获胜更加有信心。
“在马萨诸塞州，我们现在是一个边境州，”他在周二投票后不久说道。民主党“完全开放了边境……所以你不能加倍封锁边境，而不指望人们会做出反应。”
尽管民主党在马萨诸塞州的全国选举中通常表现得非常可靠，但默里表示，特朗普在该州的支持率比很多人想象的要高。
“我整天都在得到‘赞许’，”他说。
新英格兰地区也出现了类似的趋势。
“人们对国家的发展方向不满意，”长期担任罗德岛州政治民意调查员的乔·弗莱明说，并指出经济和通货膨胀是影响选民的首要因素。“这并不意味着四年后它会变成一个红州。这只是意味着特朗普昨晚能够有所推动。”
即使在新罕布什尔州民主党占多数的大学城，特朗普的进步也是不容错过的。在达特茅斯学院所在地汉诺威，他的支持率从 2020 年的 12% 左右上升到今年的 14%；在新罕布什尔大学旗舰校区所在地达勒姆，他的支持率从 22% 左右上升到 27% 以上。
“新罕布什尔州在某种程度上保留了其紫色特征，”新罕布什尔大学政治学教授但丁·斯卡拉说。“它肯定受到国家政治力量的影响，尤其是不受欢迎的现任政党。”
除了特朗普表现的改善之外，马萨诸塞州的共和党人还有理由庆祝。
据马萨诸塞州共和党主席卡内瓦莱称，在过去 40 年里，只有一名共和党人在总统任期内翻越了州立法州。周二，他们翻越了三座州。
约翰·加斯基是埃尔帕索本地人，他将移民问题作为竞选的核心，他在 9 月的初选中击败了一位现任共和党人，并于周二轻松获胜。共和党人贾斯汀·瑟伯击败了连任 12 届的现任州众议员帕特·哈达德，肯·斯威齐在普利茅斯县赢得了一场公开的州众议院竞选。凯利·杜纳在汤顿赢得了一场公开的参议院竞选，汤顿的一家由酒店改建而成的收容所已成为该州东南角的一个政治烫手山芋。她几十年来首次将席位转为共和党席位。
每位共和党在任者也都保住了自己的席位。
“通常在总统大选年，马萨诸塞州共和党的期望值非常低，”卡内瓦莱说。“进入这个周期，我们感觉我们的信息引起了选民的共鸣。我们把期望值调高了一些。”
卡内瓦莱说，这些胜利预示着陷入困境的州党将迎来更光明的未来。她的目标是赢得更多选民的支持，也希望赢得更多捐助者。
此外，她已经开始听到那些有兴趣在 2026 年挑战莫拉·希利角逐角落办公室的人的悄悄话。
“我们很快就会有这方面的消息，”卡内瓦莱说。
《环球报》的 Amanda Gokee、Niki Griswold、Steph Machado、Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio 和 Steven Porter 对本报告做出了贡献。
题图：特朗普的支持者托尼·费德里科周三在昆西的一座立交桥上表达了自己的感受。Craig F. Walker/Globe 工作人员
附原英文报道：
Even in usually blue New England, Trump made significant gains. What happened?
By Samantha J. Gross Globe Staff,Updated November 6, 2024
Trump supporter Tony Federico made his feelings known at an overpass in Quincy on Wednesday.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
New England voters, as expected, delivered their states to Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday night, but beneath that result were signs of the same rightward shift that unfurled across the country and delivered Donald Trump a decisive victory.
While Trump remains generally unpopular in blue Massachusetts, he improved his 2020 showing here by around 4 percentage points and even flipped two dozen communities. That rightward lurch even here also delivered wins for the embattled state Republican Party on Beacon Hill as well as victories for other Republicans across New England.
In New Hampshire, Republicans made gains in both chambers and won an open governor’s race, the most hotly contested in the country. Maine’s sprawling Second Congressional District gave Trump his sole electoral vote in New England. In liberal Vermont, Republicans picked up enough seats to erase Democrats’ veto-proof majority in the State House, and in Rhode Island, Trump improved his performance by nearly 8 percentage points over his previous two runs. It was the first time a Republican cracked 40 percent in Rhode Island since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano called the election a “wake-up call” for Democrats. Republican Party chair Amy Carnevale said the results show “that a lot of working Americans and working residents of Massachusetts do not feel that their concerns are being heard.”
Political strategists say Trump spoke more directly to those who worry about the cost of goods and the impact of the state’s surging migrant population in their communities.
“Ultimately, what the results from yesterday say is that Republicans were more focused on the issues that matter to people,” said GOP pollster Jon McHenry. “They are laser-focused on the economy and very focused on illegal immigration, which has had an outsized impact on Massachusetts.”
Based on preliminary returns, Trump got some 48,000 more votes in Massachusetts this year than in 2020, or more than 36 percent of the total, compared to about 32 percent in the election against Biden. He won the majority of votes in nearly 80 of the state’s 351 communities, some of which swung significantly toward the former president.
Much of Trump’s support here came in swaths of Southeastern Massachusetts, rural Worcester County, and Western Massachusetts near the Connecticut border.
While Republican support in Massachusetts is not nearly enough “to overcome decades-long partisan patterns and voting,” , McHenry said, negative feelings around how Democrats have handled immigration and the economy were enough “to increase the overall percentage for Donald Trump.”
In the majority-Latino communities of Lawrence and Chelsea, Trump increased his margins by double digits, mirroring gains he made across the country with Latino voters, especially men. In Boston alone, which just three years ago elected a woman of color as mayor running on an unabashedly progressive platform, he increased his vote share to 20 percent, up from 15 percent in 2020. That was repeated in the state’s most populous cities: Worcester, Springfield, Cambridge, and Lowell.
Republican state Representative Donald Wong said that ultimately, “people tried to look at the two people running . . . and hopefully they had real faith in seeing how [Trump] would run” the country.
“I think the foreign policies might be better under Trump.” said Wong, who lives in Saugus, a northern suburb that has become something of a bellwether on the national mood. The town went for Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020, and Trump again this year.
Trump supporters attended a Massachusetts for Trump 2024 Election Night watch party at White’s in Westport.
Trump supporters attended a Massachusetts for Trump 2024 Election Night watch party at White’s in Westport. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
In interviews, Republican voters repeatedly said the economy and immigration, and their belief that Trump would address those issues, pushed them to vote for him.
Frank Kenny, a 54-year-old life coach from Boston who voted for Trump, said he suspects people voted with their wallets.
“People were saying Trump’s an animal and all this stuff — the media has just ruined it. But things were better [during Trump’s first term],” he said. “People were making money.”
Matt Johnson, a first-time voter from Norfolk, said immigration influenced him more than any other factor this election season, particularly with the migrant shelter that opened at a former prison in his town this summer.
“I feel like a lot of [the migrants] are coming here and are getting food stamps, and housing, and all that stuff that should go to other people that do live here,” Johnson, 36, said.
Louis Murray, a 59-year-old insurance salesman from West Roxbury, voted for Trump in 2016, 2020, and again on Election Day.
This year, though, he said he was even more confident in a Trump victory.
“In Massachusetts, we’re now a border state,” he said shortly after voting Tuesday. Democrats “fully opened the border. . . . So you can’t double down on the border and not expect the people to react.”
Despite how reliably blue Massachusetts typically votes in national elections, Murray said Trump has more support in the state than many would think.
“I have been getting ‘thumbs up’ all day long,” he said.
Similar trends played out around New England.
“People are not happy with the direction the country’s going,” said longtime Rhode Island political pollster Joe Fleming, noting the economy and inflation were top factors for voters. “It doesn’t mean that four years from now it’s going to become a red state at all. It just means that Trump last night was able to move the needle some.”
Even in reliably Democratic college towns in New Hampshire, Trump’s improvement was unmissable. In Hanover, home to Dartmouth College, he went from about 12 percent in 2020 to 14 percent this year; In Durham, home to the University of New Hampshire’s flagship campus, he went from about 22 percent to more than 27 percent.
”New Hampshire is kind of keeping its purple identity,” said University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala. “It was definitely affected by national political forces, and in particular, an unpopular incumbent party.”
Republicans in Massachusetts had reason to celebrate beyond Trump’s improved showing.
In the last 40 years, just one Republican had flipped a state legislative state during a presidential cycle, according to Carnevale, the MassGOP chair. On Tuesday, they flipped three.
John Gaskey, an El Paso native who made immigration a central plank of his campaign, trounced an incumbent Republican in the primary in September and cruised to victory on Tuesday. Republican Justin Thurber unseated 12-term incumbent state Representative Pat Haddad, and Ken Sweezey won an open State House race in Plymouth County. Kelly Dooner won an open Senate race in Taunton, home to a hotel-turned-shelter that has become a political hot potato in the state’s southeastern corner. She turned the seat Republican for the first time in decades.
Every Republican incumbent held on to their seat, too.
“Typically in a presidential year, the Mass GOP keeps expectations very low,” Carnevale said. “Going into this cycle, we had the sense that our messages were resonating with voters. We kept expectations a little higher.”
The wins portend a brighter future for the embattled state party, Carnevale said. She aims to bring more voters back and hopefully more donors, too.
Plus, she’s already begun to hear whispers from those interested in challenging Maura Healey for the corner office in 2026.
“We’ll have news on that front before too long,” Carnevale said.
Amanda Gokee, Niki Griswold, Steph Machado, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, and Steven Porter of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
