The American people have spoken, and the message in Tuesday’s historic victory by once-and-now-future President Donald Trump came through loud and clear: A majority of voters wanted change – sort of.

That sounds contradictory, but here’s the logic: Americans are tired of paying higher prices and of feeling that the nation projects weakness, especially on the immigration issue. Those were the top issues for Trump supporters in the exit polls.

Voters’ way of effecting change was to boot the current administration – as represented by Vice President Kamala Harris – and bring back a familiar face: former President Trump. In America’s two-party system, those were the only viable choices on the ballot. The votes of the “hold your nose and vote Trump” cohort counted just as much as those of the enthusiastic, MAGA-hat-wearing supporters.

It is doubtless the most stunning political comeback in American history, given Mr. Trump’s two first-term impeachments, criminal convictions, and unorthodox “strongman” style that seems to break all the rules of normal political discourse.

Mr. Trump’s survival of two recent assassination attempts, to some supporters a sign that “God was involved,” only enhanced his mystique.

Beyond a repudiation of the status quo, it’s clear plenty of Trump voters like what they see. That includes both his brash style and policies aimed at addressing Americans’ deep frustration with everything from border security to the cost of living to the United States’ role in the world.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Former President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 6, 2024.

“2016 was not an aberration,” says Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Trump’s victory [in 2016, along] with what happened last night, makes a case that much of what he sells, from a political perspective, is what Americans want.”

But this election also reflects a larger anti-incumbent backlash seen in other Western democracies, from the United Kingdom and (likely soon) Canada, to New Zealand, Australia, and the deeply unpopular leaders of France and Germany. Before the U.S. election, political observer Matthew Yglesias wondered out loud why “all post-COVID electorates are grumpy and miserable.”

Some analysts caution against reading too much into Mr. Trump’s victory, noting that Democrats faced strong structural headwinds. Polls show that the percentage of Americans saying they were satisfied with the direction of the country was only in the mid-20s, a clear danger zone for an incumbent party.

“It is difficult to interpret this result as a mandate,” says presidential historian George Edwards III, a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University. “The country remains divided.”

Still, Democrats face their share of blame for the loss, which saw a Republican presidential nominee win the popular vote for the first time in 20 years. At press time, Mr. Trump had 51% of the popular vote to Vice President Harris’ 47.5%, though that margin could shrink as California counts its votes.

“Democrats need to do some real soul searching, they were pretty massively repudiated in the election,” says veteran political analyst Charlie Cook in an email.

At time of writing, Mr. Trump had won 292 electoral votes, 22 more than needed to win. He appeared set to win even more in the states still counting ballots, including Arizona and Nevada, which would make for a sweep of all seven battleground states.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Harris delivered a concession speech on the campus of her alma mater, Howard University. “The light of America’s promise will always burn bright,” she said, after a congratulatory phone call to Mr. Trump.

Earlier in the day, the Trump campaign released a statement saying, “President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign.”

Mr. Cook praises Ms. Harris’ performance as a candidate – “better than many expected, and her campaign was very competent” – but notes it wasn’t enough. And he blames the Biden administration for overreaching in its agenda after winning the 2020 election only narrowly.

Daniel Becerril/Reuters

Migrants walk in a caravan during the U.S. Election Day, in an attempt to reach Mexico's northern border, in Tapachula, Mexico, Nov. 5, 2024.

The Trump victory “was a massive repudiation of the Biden-Harris four years in general and [specifically] their economic and border policies,” says Mr. Cook, founder of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. 

During the Biden presidency, inflation averaged 5.2% year-over-year, versus 1.9% under Mr. Trump. On the southern border, President Joe Biden saw illegal crossings soar during his first three years in office, far higher than in the decade before he took office.

“You cannot overstimulate the economy, creating inflation levels that had been pretty dormant for over 30 years, and not have a massive backlash,” Mr. Cook adds. “You cannot ignore the border for three years, only settling down to address it in your last year, and not face massive backlash.”

This analysis suggests that a different Democratic nominee might not have fared much better this cycle. Still, the what ifs of the Democratic effort are flying thick and fast.

First up for recriminations may be President Biden. What if the octogenarian had stuck to his original suggestion that he’d be a “bridge” president – i.e., a one-termer – and announced he wouldn’t run for a second term early last year, allowing for a proper primary competition among the next generation of Democratic leaders?

Instead, his initial decision to run for a second term, only to be pushed out of the race by fellow Democrats less than four months before Election Day, left the party scrambling. Ms. Harris, the nominee by default, had little time to introduce herself to voters and establish an identity apart from the Biden brand.

Vincent Alban/Reuters

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally the day before Election Day, in West Ellis, Wisconsin, Nov. 4, 2024.

Ms. Harris’ decision to make Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz her running mate rather than popular Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania – the nation’s biggest battleground state – also raises questions. It appears a Harris-Shapiro ticket likely also would not have prevailed, but we’ll never know what his rhetorical skills and centrist, bridge-building persona could have brought to the effort to win over swing voters.

To die-hard Trump opponents, the test now is to practice what they preached: Accept the election result, and prepare to counter what some see as the potentially existential threat Mr. Trump poses to American democracy. Exit polls show that defending democracy was the No. 1 issue for Harris voters.

“Citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press, and those serving in our federal, state, and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy,” former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, an anti-Trump Republican and a former party leader, said in a statement Wednesday.

The Republican takeover of the Senate, with three seats gained so far, suggests that this chamber may not be the check on Mr. Trump some opponents are hoping for. The GOP-controlled Senate will also ease confirmations of Trump Cabinet and judicial nominees. At press time, control of the House remained up for grabs.

But the real story of the 2024 election is with the voters themselves, and why they voted the way they did.

Mr. Trump made gains with nearly every demographic group. But the most noteworthy shift was among Hispanic voters – particularly men. In 2020, Mr. Biden won Hispanic men by 23 percentage points; this year, Mr. Trump won that demographic by 10 points. Overall, 40% of Hispanic voters cited the economy as their most important issue, 9 points higher than the population as a whole.

In Los Angeles, Isabel Velez, who owns a real estate business with her husband, cast a ballot for Mr. Trump – while keeping her support for him quiet among her friends, who don’t all agree. She points to interest rates, violence, and abortion as her top reasons.

First-time voter Devon Che also voted for Mr. Trump. The 21-year-old artist was unhappy that the U.S. under President Biden seemed to be funding war in Ukraine and Gaza. He also recalls easier economic times when Mr. Trump was in office: “It was very easy to just live life and buy day-to-day things and not worry about saving as much.”

At the polls in Hobart, Wisconsin, on Tuesday morning, Dan Skenandore said he was still pondering his options when he left his home in nearby Oneida to go vote. He supported Mr. Trump in 2016 but switched to vote for Mr. Biden in 2020.

“It was a difficult time, with the pandemic, all the confusion,” says Mr. Skenandore, a police officer and member of the Oneida Nation, of 2020. “It seemed like there was a need for strong leadership.”

But Mr. Biden disappointed him. Mr. Skenandore’s own economic situation became more difficult. “I pay more in taxes,” he says. “My money is worth less.”

Mr. Skenandore likes Mr. Trump’s idea of ending taxes on overtime pay, even though he calls it unrealistic. He also has positive words for Ms. Harris, citing her “message of hope.” And he paid close attention to the TV ads during the Packers-Lions NFL game Sunday.

In the end, he says, he voted for Mr. Trump.

Staff writer Ali Martin contributed to this report from Los Angeles, and contributor Richard Mertens from Hobart, Wisconsin.

Former President Donald Trump’s resounding victory appears buoyed by a key constituency – Latino voters – whose economic concerns may have outweighed his harsh rhetoric surrounding immigration.

As of Wednesday afternoon, an NBC News exit poll suggests 46% of Latino voters went Republican in this election, and that share was even greater (55%) among Latino men. Those percentages significantly exceed Mr. Trump’s performance in the 2020 election, when the same exit poll estimated Republican support from 32% of Latino voters and 36% of Latino men.

Experts caution against reading too much into exit polls, which may be skewed given the large share of citizens voting early or by mail ballot. On top of that, Latinos are not a monolithic voting bloc, says John Tuman, executive associate dean in liberal arts and political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Their views can differ based on everything from ancestry and country of origin to religion and housing situations.

And even with gains among Latino voters, Republican victories are largely the result of overwhelming support among white voters. Fifty-seven percent of white voters, who make up the bulk of the electorate, cast ballots favoring the GOP, according to the NBC News exit poll.

Still, the big question now is what motivated the apparent surge of Republican support from Latino voters, who by some estimates could make up nearly 15% of the U.S. electorate this year. In certain battleground states, that percentage is even higher. Latinos were expected to represent a quarter of Arizona voters. In Nevada, they make up about 1 in every 5 voters.

“For many different demographic groups, including Latinos, inflation was just really a big driving factor,” says Dr. Tuman, who has researched Latino voters. “[It was] very hard for Biden and then Harris, who took over as a candidate very late in the campaign, to push back against that narrative.”

The economy is critical, but there are other factors, too

Eighty-five percent of Latino voters cited the economy as “very important” in the presidential election, topping all other issues, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in September.

Outside a Phoenix vote center Tuesday, an “I Voted” sticker is affixed to the brim of Sebastian Mario’s baseball cap. The first-time voter – and Mexican-born American – chose Mr. Trump on the economy.

“Now that I’m an adult, and I’ve got to pay my own bills, I feel like it’s really hard on people’s pockets,” said the 20-something plumber.

“I actually didn’t like Trump,” he clarified. However, “I like his plan better.”

Mr. Mario thought to himself as he voted: “Don’t make me regret this.”

Jesus Marquez, a conservative strategist with the American Christian Caucus, agrees that economic concerns propelled more Latino voters toward Mr. Trump and Republicans, a trend afoot for several election cycles now. But he contends it’s more than that.

Mr. Marquez says many Latino voters want stronger border security and greater parental rights, among other issues. Mr. Trump, he says, is the candidate who delivered that message in an unwavering fashion. On the Democratic side, Ms. Harris devoted a lot of time and messaging to reproductive rights, which Mr. Marquez says didn’t necessarily have the same tug as other policy concerns among Latino voters.

“There’s a lot of women who support abortion up until a certain stage, but they care more for other things,” he says. “They care more for providing for the family, for food, for the economy, and for security.”

Complex views about Trump’s rhetoric

Democrats, however, hoped Mr. Trump’s incendiary language about illegal immigration and plans for mass deportations would pull voters to their side. Vice President Kamala Harris routinely condemned such rhetoric, including that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” And in the waning days of the campaign, a comedian at Mr. Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

Sarah Matusek/The Christian Science Monitor

Republican Denisse Schaffino, left, a Mexican-born American, waits in line with her daughter, Aarya Schaffino, to attend a Trump rally in Aurora, Colorado, Oct. 11, 2024.

For some, that language did make a difference. Joshua Berrios, a Puerto Rican from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was an undecided voter for much of the election, until he saw a clip of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s performance at Mr. Trump’s rally. He cast his vote for Ms. Harris.

The rhetoric wasn’t enough to move the needle for other voters, though.

In Aurora, Colorado, Denisse Schaffino was also drawn to Mr. Trump on the economy. The Mexican-born Republican lost her job in the mortgage industry in 2022 as interest rates began to climb. But she’s also seen how her city has grappled with an influx of new South American immigrants – including suspects of crimes who officials have linked to a Venezuelan gang.

“I don’t believe in just coming and then trying to get everything for free,” she said in line at a Trump rally last month. Hardworking Americans, meanwhile, “don’t get any of that help.”

In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, longtime Democrat Evelyn Agosto voted for Joe Biden in 2020. But during the pandemic, vaccine mandates drove her away from the party and she changed her affiliation to Republican. On Tuesday, she voted for Mr. Trump.

Ms. Agosto, born in Puerto Rico, found the mockery of her native island at the recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden distasteful, but it didn’t lead her to reconsider her vote.

“I wouldn’t vote for the other party just because [the comedian] messed up,” Ms. Agosto said. “I’m sticking with my beliefs.”

Staff writers Caitlin Babcock and Sophie Hills contributed reporting from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Sue Ogrocki/AP

Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno appears during a watch party on election night, Nov. 5, 2024, in Westlake, Ohio, with his wife, Bridget. He ousted incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.

Former President Donald Trump’s sweeping electoral victory extended to downballot Republicans, who wrested control of the U.S. Senate away from Democrats. The GOP flipped two Senate seats in Ohio and West Virginia, and as of Wednesday afternoon seemed likely to grow their majority with wins in Rust Belt and Western states where votes were still being counted.

Control of the U.S. House remained too close to call, but it’s entirely possible Mr. Trump will come back to Washington having won a trifecta, with both chambers of Congress in Republican hands.

In a year when Democrats had more seats to defend than Republicans, they had hoped to save their majority by perhaps flipping a few seats of their own in Florida and Texas. But it was not to be, as Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas held their ground, with voters punishing Democrats over the economy and immigration.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno ousted incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, with criticism of Democrats on border security helping the Colombian-born businessman to victory.

Popular West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice handily won the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, the independent who caucused with Democrats. Mr. Justice was so confident of victory he barely even campaigned against his opponent, Glenn Elliott, the Democratic former mayor of Wheeling.

“In the primary, I didn’t put a sign out,” he said during a press conference. “Think about this for a second: I didn’t put one single sign up, and I won by 35-plus points. The people of this state know me. They know me, and they know me really well. I’ve done almost zero campaigning.”

LM Otero/AP

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a watch party on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Marriott Marquis in Houston.

The Senate switch will put Republicans in charge of the agenda in that chamber. They will hold the keys to executive branch nominations and federal judgeships, as well as any vacancies that might arise at the Supreme Court.

“Trump will be able to get any confirmations that he likes,” says Jeffery Jenkins, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California.

And right off the bat, lawmakers will be staring at an expiring federal debt ceiling and tax cuts from the first Trump administration that will end at the conclusion of 2025.

“The stakes are going to be really high. Right out of the box they’re going to have to deal with government spending, raising the debt limit,” says Kevin Kosar, an expert on Congress at the American Enterprise Institute.

But first, Republicans will need to pick their new majority leader in a secret-ballot election set for next week. In the running are South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican; Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who termed out of GOP leadership; and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Both Senators Thune and Cornyn are more traditional conservatives, while Senator Scott has deep ties to the party’s right wing, says Sarah Binder, a political science professor at The George Washington University who has long studied Congress.

Staunch Trump loyalist Sen. Mike Lee of Utah appears to be playing kingmaker. He has announced that each of the candidates has agreed to participate at a forum that he will moderate on Nov. 12. At the same time, he has issued a letter to colleagues, calling for Senate reforms, especially allowing more freedom for senators to offer amendments on legislation and engage in extended debate.

Go Nakamura/Reuters

U.S. Senator Mike Lee speaks on the day Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally, in Prescott Valley, Arizona, Oct. 13, 2024.

Senator Cruz of Texas, an ally of Senator Lee, this week described outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a “one-man dictator.” Senator McConnell, from Kentucky, is the longest-serving Republican Senate leader in history and is stepping down from leadership at the end of this year.

Senator McConnell, speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, said he believed the GOP’s victory would help preserve the filibuster.

“One of the most gratifying results of the Senate becoming Republican: The filibuster will stand, there won’t be any new states admitted that will benefit the other side, and we’ll quit beating up the Supreme Court every time they make a decision we don’t like,” he said.

For many years, the Senate has been sliding toward more control by party leaders. “There’s been a lot of complaints among senators about feeling like they’re eunuchs at the court,” says Mr. Kosar.

But senators also have themselves to blame, says Dr. Binder, in part because they want protection from amendment votes that could damage them politically. “They’ve not really fought back,” she says.

Mr. Trump is expected to push his agenda of tax cuts and a restrictive approach to immigration. On trade, Congress long ago ceded power to the president to impose sanctions and raise tariffs.

But a Republican Senate will not necessarily walk in lockstep with Mr. Trump. In the Middle East, Ukraine, and Taiwan, “different levels of peril will test the Republicans’ comfort with interjecting themselves,” says Mr. Kosar. And will anyone want to stick their neck out on immigration after they saw Mr. Trump squelch a bipartisan bill on border security?

Regardless of the final constellation of party alignment in Washington, Dr. Binder doesn’t see a Senate that accomplishes much beyond addressing taxes in the next year or two. “That will absorb most of the energies of a Republican Senate.”

Editor’s note: This story, which was originally published at 12:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, has been updated to reflect ongoing developments.

Ivan Maschenko kneels down to brush two fingers across the framed portrait of his son Oleksii, who died in battle last year defending Ukraine against Russia’s invasion force.

“Of course we all want this war to end, but when [former President Donald] Trump says he can end it in two days, it is not real,” Mr. Maschenko says, surveying the vast monument to Ukraine’s war dead that has sprung up in Kyiv’s central Maidan Square.

“Our only hope now that he will be back in power is that he will change his position on supporting Ukraine, and change for the best.”

Like most Ukrainians, Mr. Maschenko had been following the U.S. presidential election almost as if it were his own. Before Wednesday morning, many people across Ukraine’s capital expressed nervously a sense that their country’s future hung in the balance of an election in which they had no say.

Like many of his compatriots, Mr. Maschenko asserts that what happens in Ukraine matters for the world, and so it must matter to a great power like the United States.

“If the world wants democracy and order,” he says, “then it must support Ukraine. If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wins,” he adds, “he will not stop here and he will march to all of Europe.”

And yet, as he and his sister Olena and nephew Timur visit the makeshift monument’s narrow dirt pathways through thousands of tiny Ukrainian flags, he is already resigned to the fact that Mr. Trump will return to the White House. And he says it’s time to move forward with this new reality.

Ukraine has no choice, he says, but to “work with Trump and hope for the best.”

That sentiment is found elsewhere across the city, as Kyiv adjusts to the seismic shift away from President Joe Biden’s “as long as it takes” support and back to President Trump’s “friendship” with Mr. Putin and promises of a rapid end to the war.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Former U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in New York, Sept. 27, 2024.

Mr. Trump’s election “means we will have to work hard to communicate with a part of America that we were ignoring before,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, speaking Wednesday morning on a postelection panel at the Kyiv State School of Administration. “Regardless of our position, we have to learn to work with both sides of the U.S. political spectrum,” she said.

“I don’t want to lose Ukraine”

Such realism pervaded the panel taking place in a school conference room rebaptized “Pennsylvania” for the occasion.

“With Trump, we will need to learn to differentiate the rhetoric from the action,” said parliament member Yehor Cherniev.

“We should remember that it was Trump in his first term who first sent arms to Ukraine; it wasn’t [President Barack] Obama,” he told his audience. “In fact, Trump can be a pragmatic person, even though he sounds like a quite extreme person sometimes.”

Yet for all the morning-after realism for some, many Ukrainians remain apprehensive about an election they have been glued to for months – the outcome of which leaves them fearful.

“I don’t want to lose Ukraine, but what we hear from the television analysts is that with Trump we will lose the war, and then Russia will take Ukraine from us,” says Tetiana Hrabchak, who tends her stall of traditional Ukrainian embroidered clothing at the Soviet-era Zhytnyi market.

Noting that her heart wanted “Kamala” while her head told her it would be Mr. Trump, Ms. Hrabchak says, “All we can do now is hope for the best for Ukraine.”

Howard LaFranchi/The Christian Science Monitor

Tetiana Hrabchak sells traditional embroidered clothing at the Soviet-era Zhytnyi market in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 5, 2024.

Yet many vendors along the rows of vegetables, pickled products, and dried fish are quick to point out that while the impact of the U.S. election is likely to be felt intensely in Ukraine, it is also true that what happens in Ukraine matters to the world.

“We know Trump would help Russia – he says he is the friend of Putin – and that would be bad for the world,” says Volodymyr Polchenko, who sells a variety of pumpkins at his market stall. “[Putin] would only feel more powerful to attack other countries.”

Global risks

Still, the vendors of Zhytnyi market are not of one mind.

“Trump is a true American, but this Kamala is a globalist,” says Bessarion Gabelashvili, a Georgian Ukrainian who with his wife, Elida, sells typical Georgian breads and baked goods. “And don’t forget there were no wars under Trump. Trump is a strong man,” he adds, “and a strong America is good for the world.”

Yet others cite more worrisome reasons the Trump impact on Russia’s war in Ukraine poses grave risks for the world.

“It’s not right that one country can invade another country and succeed in taking it, or even part of it,” says Ivan, bundled up against the cold of an outside café in Kyiv’s trendy Zoloti Vorota district. Like others interviewed, Ivan gave only his first name.

“If that can be possible it means all the security agreements are useless, but we know Trump is for a cease-fire that would leave Russia with our land,” adds Ivan, a marketing student who works part time at a McDonald’s. “Over time that will not be good for America, and it won’t be good for world security.”

His girlfriend, Sofia, who studies psychology in Kharkiv, says the world needs to remember that the war is not just a conflict over land. It has become a conflict between America and Russia and the worldview that each big power represents.

She also invokes global food security. “Ukraine is a breadbasket of the world,” she says, “but Russia wants to stop Ukraine from sending its food production to the world.” That’s another way that “Ukraine matters.”

Howard LaFranchi/The Christian Science Monitor

Marketing student Ivan and psychology student Sofia take a break at a Kyiv coffee shop. They oppose a cease-fire deal that would leave Russia with Ukrainian land, but say the war is about more than territory.

Others go even bigger picture.

“What’s at stake here is the liberal international order that is beneficial to the United States,” says Ivan Homza, a professor of public policy at the Kyiv School of Economics. Noting that Mr. Trump has long railed against the cost of supporting that system of allies and international security and economic institutions, he adds, “Yes, it costs [the U.S.], but it also benefits [the U.S.] well beyond those costs.”

“We need more friends”

On another floor of the Kyiv School of Economics, the debate club is taking up the U.S. election.

“This election is such an important topic for us,” says club deputy head Victoriia Hermanchuk. “I have friends with relatives on the front lines. For parents with children and the students here, they all want to know about the scenarios for our future.”

One lesson Ukraine should learn from its national anxiety over the U.S. election, some say, is that Ukraine should not be so dependent on one country.

“We need to find more friends, maybe in Asia,” says Vadym Chaplyhin, from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city just 20 miles from the Russian border. “I know Putin is not our friend; it’s Putin who is killing our children,” he says. “So how can I trust a man who is the friend of our worst enemy?”

Another student chimes in on how he sees a Trump victory.

“We all know there are many people who want to end this war, even if it means we need to give some territory to Russia. I think those people might be for Trump,” says Serhii Maiboroda, who offers the common argument that if Ukraine gives up territory to Mr. Putin now, the Russians will be back to take more land, even in other countries, and Ukraine will have to fight again.

“So for us this election is a huge, huge thing, but I think for the world, too,” he says. “This is like a line [drawn]: Will the world have more democracy – or will it have more totalitarianism?”

Oleksandr Naselenko contributed to reporting this story.

AP

A woman entertains her son as a man fills out a ballot on Election Day in Hazelwood, Mo.

America’s presidential elections are a great survey of public opinion as well as a call to action. Yet while Donald Trump won both the popular vote and the Electoral College on Nov. 5, it could be that the exit polls will drive the course of his second term.

The theme of those polls? Americans seek a restoration of past norms of balance or harmony – balance in the economy for Trump supporters and, for those who voted for Kamala Harris, harmony in democratic norms.

Among the third of voters who identified the economy as their primary concern, 79% chose Mr. Trump, according to Edison Research’s exit polls. More specifically, 73% who see inflation as a severe hardship voted for the Republican candidate. They want to bring prices back to prepandemic levels and lower their higher cost of living.

For those who chose Ms. Harris, a majority are worried far more about the state of democracy than about the economy. They seek the civility and rule of law that were more common before Mr. Trump’s first term.

The president-elect thanked “the American people” for his victory and added, “We’re going to help our country heal.” That sentiment, if followed, would be a step toward those desires for balance and harmony.

That rare upbeat and unifying message pointed to another aspect of the exit polls: About 6 in 10 voters say the country’s best days are ahead.

In 11 key states, inflation dominated the concerns of voters. While the rate of price increases is now low – about 2% – the persistence of high prices from gasoline to housing drove many people to vote for the GOP candidate. Credit card debt, for example, was at a historic high in August as inflated prices have pushed people to charge more when buying everyday items.

“With inflation and two wars raging abroad, many voters fondly recalled a pre-pandemic world that was mostly at peace and economically prosperous under Trump,” wrote journalist Michael Hirsh in Foreign Policy.

Many economists say Mr. Trump’s proposed policies, such as tariffs on imported goods, could increase inflation. The exit polls offer the opportunity to temper his agenda and acknowledge the desire of nearly half the voters to restore democratic norms. Merely offering to help the country heal was a first step.