In yet another showing of how peculiar this presidential race has been, Hillary Clinton has gained the support of a demographic that almost always votes Republican.
According to a recent Bloomberg poll, Clinton is leading Donald Trump among top earners, which describes voters with an annual household income of $100,000 or more. Though it’s a narrow margin—46% to 42%—it was still highly unexpected. Republicans have won among top earners between 1976 and 1992, and since 1996 have either won or tied in that demographic.
When asked which candidate would be better for their personal investments, Trump leads Clinton 45% to 36%. Additionally, he wins in subcategories such as job creation and bringing change to Washington. However, when it comes to fighting for the middle class, temperament, and foreign policy, Clinton is the winner. Despite who they personally support, 56% of top earners predicted that Clinton would win the election.
Clinton has also widened her fundraising gap over Trump. Though Trump raised more small donations than Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reports that in August she raised about $20 million more than he did. Her campaign ended the month with a total of $194 million in cash on hand, about $91 million more than Trump’s campaign.
Trump has said that he doesn’t need to spend as much money as Clinton does, which makes sense considering how much free advertising he’s received from the media. One report estimated that eight major media outlets provided him with about $55 million in free advertising in the span of 12 months during the primary season.
At the beginning of last month his campaign boasted spending $0 on television advertising compared to Clinton’s $52 million, but he has since ramped up his campaign spending. In the last two weeks of August, he spent $5.2 million on television advertising. Additionally, he increased his payroll spending by $200,00 and almost doubled his field consulting expenditure, reaching $973,000.
Neither Donald Trump’s nor Hillary Clinton’s campaign could immediately be reached for comment.
