The vast majority of America’s famously private Amish people are unreachable by phone or email and refuse to have TVs in their homes.
But that didn’t stop members of the conservative Christian group turning out in big numbers on polling day in a trend that appears to have helped Donald Trump win Pennsylvania.
In Lancaster County, the heart of the state’s Amish community, one member reportedly rode his horse and cart through the roads carrying a billboard proclaiming: ‘Pray for God’s Mercy for Our Nation.’
What sparked the voting rush? Government agents had stormed a local farm early in the year in a row over unpasteurised milk and the Amish community were enraged. Donald Trump Jr tweeted at the time: ‘Imagine what law enforcement could accomplish if they went after members of elite paedophile rings rather than farmers selling to their neighbours??’
Pennsylvania‘s traditionally private Amish community, which some estimate numbers around 180,000, registered to vote in ‘unprecedented numbers’. Experts have said that the movement could won the President-elect tens of thousands of new votes in the crucial swing state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture raided Amos Miller’s farm on January 4, sparking outrage among the state’s Amish population, a source familiar with the matter told The New York Post.
‘That was the impetus for them to say, ‘We need to participate,” the source said. ‘This is about neighbors helping neighbors.’
Amish voters appear to have turned out for Trump after a row sparked when the Biden government raided a milk farm in Pennsylvania (pictured on polling day)
An Amish man arrives to vote in Ronks
Pennsylvania ‘s traditionally private Amish community have registered to vote in ‘unprecedented numbers’ after government agents stormed a local farm in Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania
The raid by state officials came after reports of children falling ill from raw dairy products purchased at the farm in Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania.
‘If you think about Amish people and their connection to nature, I mean, some of these people work in the fields barefoot to be closer to the earth,’ the source told The Post.
While exact numbers of Amish voters remained unclear as of Tuesday night, horse-and-buggy rigs spotted at polling locations in the state.
This comes as Donald Trump won Pennsylvania, the biggest 2024 election swing state.
Conservative activist Scott Presler, known for his outreach to Pennsylvania’s Amish community, has been credited for the voter turnout.
An Amish buggy rides in Lancaster past a billboard encouraging people to vote
An Amish man walks past supporters of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he approaches a polling station at the Ronks Fire Department in Ronks, PA
Pressler has been engaging with voters by emphasizing local issues, particularly regarding agricultural practices and religious freedoms, the Express Tribune reported.
Beyond the Amish community, Presler has expanded his campaign to include union laborers and hunters, emphasizing job security and Second Amendment rights.
His engagement with these diverse voter groups has earned him widespread recognition among supporters.
An Amish horse-drawn buggy passes by signs reading ‘Stop Illegal Voting’ and ‘Trump 2024’ signs in Strasburg, Pa
A voting advertisement geared toward the Amish population of Lancaster County is displayed on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Strasburg, Pa
Donald Trump at his election night event in Florida
Dr. Jan Halper-Hayes expressed gratitude for his efforts on X, writing: ‘If Trump wins Pennsylvania, we all owe it to this man! @ScottPresler Registered’s 180,000 Amish first time voters. He worked tirelessly! Please send a thank you to Scott!’
Donald Trump stormed to victory in both the popular vote and the electoral college last night in an undeniable sign of enthusiasm from the American people.
Trump also made gains with nearly every voting bloc he lost in the 2020 election and put together a coalition of multi-ethnic working-class voters to defeat Kamala Harris.
And Harris did worse on Tuesday than Joe Biden in the 2020 contest among key voting groups including women, the working class and Latinos.
That is what the numbers from exit polls show.
But the election results also comes down to this: Trump had vision for America while Harris had word salad, voters trusted him more to fix the economy, and the American people thought Biden put the country on the wrong track.
It all added up to Donald Trump overcoming a criminal conviction, indictments, and an assassin’s bullet to return to the White House.
And Trump did it in a landslide. The election that was predicted to be a nail biter instead was a red tsunami.
Trump didn’t just win the electoral college but the popular vote, garnering 71.2 million votes to Harris’ 66.4 million. Tellingly, Harris garnered less overall votes than Biden in 2020. That year their ticket won 81 million votes.
The popular vote is still being tallied but Trump could be the first Republican president since George W Bush to win it.
‘A major reason why President Trump run won because he made it clear how he will improve the lives of every American and the fact that he can do it right away. He doesn’t need one or two or three years to figure out where things are and how Washington works. We have that economy and that secure border. He can do it right away,’ Trump adviser Jason Miller told The Today Show on Wednesday.
In the end Trump had a near-mirror win of his 2016 campaign. Here’s a breakdown of how he did it:
Trump won white working-class voters in the 2016 contest and took it a step further this cycle, bringing in black and Latino working-class voters to increase his vote count.
Early on his campaign had the goal of putting together this expanded coalition. Working-class voters were the key to Trump’s win in 2016, just as they were key to Biden’s win in 2020.
Trump’s campaign built on those numbers to incorporate black and latino voters.
Those two groups, particularly men, tilted more toward Trump this year than in 2020, with black support nearly doubling to 15% and Latino support growing by 6 points, to 41%, according to preliminary results from AP VoteCast.
The biggest movement among these men was those without college degrees, commonly referred to as working-class voters, who broke heavily for Trump.
Trump made massive shifts toward winning minority voters – an important new chapter for the Republican Party and a warning sign for Democrats, who have been taking the group for granted.
The president-elect won noncollege voters of all racial backgrounds by 12 points over Harris, compared with a 4-point lead in 2020.
Chief among Trump’s gains compared with his performance against Biden in 2020 was Latino men.
The numbers show the late focus on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe mocking Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally didn’t cause the damage Harris’ campaign hoped it would.
The gains were concentrated most heavily among Latinos under age 65.
In Florida, the heavily Latino Miami-Dade County had backed Democrat Hillary Clinton by 30 points in 2016 and Biden by 7 points in 2020. On Tuesday, Trump won it by nearly 12 points.
Trump also made gains in key places among black men, more than doubling his 2020 performance in North Carolina.
Harris performed slightly worse with black voters than Biden did four years ago. She won the support of 86% of black voters compared to the 90% Biden won in 2020.
Kamala Harris did worse than Joe Biden among black voters and women voters
Trump made major gains among young voters – particularly among men, who made a dramatic shift to the right after backing Biden four years ago.
He courted the group hard and it paid off.
Trump appeared on numerous podcasts and at other events – mixed martial arts matches and car races – that appealed to young men, selecting many of those options on the advice of his 18-year-old son Barron.
Trump won 18- to 29-year-old men by 13 points. Harris lost ground for Democrats among that group, which went Biden won by 15 points in 2020.
Young voters were plainly divided among gender lines.
About 6 in 10 women between 18 to 29 voted for Harris, and more than half of men in that age group backed Trump.
Barron Trump – seen above with parents Donald and Melania on Election Night – helped his dad win over young male voters
In what may be one of the most shocking results of the night, Biden outperformed Harris among women voters.
Harris didn’t make gender a centerpiece of her campaign, banking on accusations of misogyny from Trump to hand her that voting bloc.
She won the group but not by enough to hand her the White House.
Women favored Harris by 10 points on Tuesday but they favored Biden by 14 points in 2020.
Men preferred Trump by 10 points, up from nine points four years ago.
The only segment of the electorate with which Harris made notable gains over Biden’s 2020 performance was with college-educated women – those are the same voters that helped Democrats in the 2022 midterm election.
