Massachusetts scored a big win in Massachusetts Tuesday night.
The liberal bastion might not seem like Trump country at first glance. But the Republican front-runner has led in the public polls. He also held two big rallies in Massachusetts, one in Lowell and another in Worcester, both working class cities.
Trump has generally done well with two groups of voters in the Republican primaries: moderate Republicans and blue-collar conservatives. Both are thick on the ground among Massachusetts Republicans. GOP Govs. William Weld and Paul Cellucci are examples of the first group; conservative Democratic turned Republican Gov. Edward King is an example of the latter.
Exit polls show Trump winning across the board, but doing particularly well with Republican primary voters who didn’t graduate college. He took 62 percent among those who didn’t graduate and 63 percent of non-college whites.
Despite Trump’s tiff with the pope, he won 53 percent of Catholics. That’s 10 points better than he did with Protestants, although he won plurality support among them too. No one else came close.
Trump has come under fire from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in recent days. Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, has led influential Republicans in criticizing Trump. Romney has also called on Trump to release his tax returns.
Trump’s win in Massachusetts gives him a geographically diverse base, given all his Southern victories. His final margin was better than 30 points, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich coming in a distant second and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio right behind him in third.
