Editor,
A little known fact of the 2016 election is that Donald Trump performed significantly worse in Carmel than any other Republican presidential candidate in 100 years.
First a caveat, Hamilton County and Carmel have a long tradition of being Republican strongholds, as no Democratic presidential candidate has beaten a Republican in 100 years. The highest percentage of vote for a Democraticic presidential candidate in Hamilton County was FDR, who got 46 percent in 1932 (and he was down to 35 percent by 1944). A particularly brutal time for Democrats was from 1968 to 2004, when no Democrat got to 30 percent, with two candidates garnishing only 17 percent of the vote. Barak Obama performed much better in 2008 and 2012, exceeding 30 percent both times.
In Carmel-Clay in 2012 (which tends to closely track Hamilton County results), Mitt Romney got 65 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Obama, who carried only one of the 67 precincts In Clay Township.
In contrast, in the 2016 election, Trump got a bare majority of 51 percent of the vote compared to 42 percent for Hillary Clinton. While Trump had the lowest percentage of any Republican in 100 years, Clinton’s percentage was the highest since FDR. She won 11 precincts and carried the entire far west side (from Towne Road to the Boone County line). Trump also significantly underperformed in Carmel compared to Hamilton County, as he got 56 percent of the vote in the entire county.
These numbers clearly indicate that the voting patterns of Carmel residents are changing, and Mr. Trump is comparably unpopular here.
Jim Blessing, Carmel