Pollster: Trump’s 2016 victory gives hope to younger Dems who lack political experience

President Trump’s 2016 electoral victory is an indication that American voters are more interested in a candidate’s ability to claim the mantle of political change than in their past experience, possibly indicating a roadmap for both parties, pollster Mallory Newall told Hill.TV.

“What we saw with President Trump in 2016 that there is a certain appetite for an anti- establishment candidate,” Newall, the director of research at Ipsos Public Affairs, said on Tuesday’s broadcast of “What America’s Thinking.”

Prior to his election, Trump was real estate mogul, businessman and host of NBC’s “The Apprentice.” He was the first person elected president who had no political or military experience.

Trump’s lack of experience and frequent attacks on Republican leaders contributed to many GOP political operatives and politicians opposing his candidacy during the party’s last White House primary. Former presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) were among those who said they would not support Trump for president in 2016.

According to Newall, Trump’s victory could point the way for younger Democratic presidential candidates, showing that successfully portraying themselves as “agents of change” could be the path to victory.

“What matters is whether candidates are able to connect with voters on being a change agent and portraying themselves as someone that is outside the system and will be able to shake up the system in Washington,” Newall told host Jamal Simmons.

The 2020 Democratic primary already includes multiple establishment candidates, including governors and senators, as well as less well-known ones such as entrepreneur Andrew Yang and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Yang has never held a political office, and Buttigieg, at 37, would be the youngest person ever elected to the presidency if he wins.

—Amelia Morel