Millennials increased their voter participation in 2016 election

Millennials actually increased their participation in last year’s election, according to new Census Bureau data Wednesday that challenges conventional wisdom that frustrated young people fed up with the choices failed to turn out to vote.

Meanwhile Hispanic voters, who had been predicted to surge to the polls to oppose Mr. Trump and his immigration policies, saw their participation rates slip slightly, the data shows.

And black voters, who made history by exceeding white turnout rates in 2012, tumbled last year, falling from 66.6 percent to 59.6 percent. White voter turnout, meanwhile, grew to 65.3 percent, up 1.2 percent from the last presidential election and easily outdistancing black voters.

All told, 61.4 percent of Americans of voting age said they cast ballots in November — statistically similar to the 61.8 percent who reported voting in 2012.

President Trump stunned analysts by triumphing over Democrat Hillary Clinton, leaving demographers searching for answers in turnout numbers, after polls had suggested Mrs. Clinton was en route to a fairly easy victory.

While Mrs. Clinton won the national popular vote, Mr. Trump won the Electoral College, maximizing support in several Rust Belt states that hadn’t gone for the GOP presidential nominee in a generation, but seemed to respond to Mr. Trump’s populist message.

Analysts said his appeal to white voters, and men in particular, helped him carry the election.

A new Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday suggested he is now facing political trouble among those voters. His support among white men dropped from 53 percent in April to 48 percent now, with 46 percent saying they disapprove of his performance.

White voters without a college degree — the bedrock of his Rust Belt victories — have also soured, dropping 10 percentage points since April, to just 47 percent approval.

Across all voters, just 36 percent approve of the job Mr. Trump, which is near his all-time low of 35 percent in early April.

Also distressing for Mr. Trump and all Republicans is that American voters want Democrats to control the House of Representatives in a generic ballot test 54 percent to 38 percent. This is the widest margin ever measured by the poll.

According to the Census Bureau numbers, the white share of the electorate slipped slightly last year, falling to 73.3 percent. A quarter-century ago it stood at 85.5 percent.

Hispanics, despite not expanding their turnout rate, did expand their share of the electorate, reaching 9.2 percent. Black voters were 11.9 percent of the electorate.

While still trailing other age groups in absolute numbers, some 46.1 percent of voters ages 18 to 29 cast ballots last year — up from 45 percent in 2012, the previous presidential election year. That challenges the conclusions of some elections analysts that young voters fled the political process with President Obama no longer on the ballot.

“In 2016, young voters ages 18 to 29 were the only age group to report increased turnout compared to 2012, with a reported turnout increase of 1.1 percent,” the Census Bureau said in its analysis of the voting data. ” All older age groups either reported small yet statistically significant turnout decreases or turnout rates not statistically different from 2012.”