An Exploration Of The Reasons For Donald Trump’s Victory In The 2016 American Presidential Election

The United States perches at the top of the power politics in the international community,and its 2016 presidential election is the focus of the globe.A majority of experts,media and ordinary people seemed to have reached a consensus that Hillary Clinton would be the best candidate for the presidency,and thus put Donald Trump aside.However,Trump won the election to be the 45^th president with 304 electoral votes,which ran counter to people’s expectations.People began to contemplate the causes behind the unanticipated result of this election.Based on a multitude of literature sources such as monographs,newspapers,magazines,poll surveys and so on,this thesis tries to examine the factors,both subjective and objective,that contributed to Donald Trump’s final victory in this election from three dimensions.Firstly,on the institutional level,the loose American party system enables Trump to change his party affiliation at will,and provides an identity as a Republican member for Trump to enter the presidential race.The Electoral College system of the United States provides a necessary precondition for Trump’s victory.The voter suppression policy executed by the Republican Party precludes many of Clinton’s supporters from casting ballots,which strongly promoted Trump’s final victory.Secondly,as for personal factors,Trump’s personal charisma,male identity and good health conditions constitute important guarantee for Trump’s capturing those voters.Finally,with regard to campaign strategy factors,Trump makes use of media strategy,brings forth new language forms and contents,proposes popular policies and platforms and mobilizes his team and family to infuse an impetus into his campaign.This thesis concludes that Trump’s victory lies in his taking good advantage of institutional factors,giving full play to personal advantages and making flexible use of campaign strategies.