Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump with wealthier voters — a group that historically votes Republican

(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

published 21 September 2016

Voters with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more might be breaking from their typical voting habits in this presidential election. Though higher-income voters historically support Republican presidential candidates, a new Purple Slice online poll for Bloomberg Politics out Wednesday revealed Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump with that voting bloc. Clinton claimed 46 percent support among voters with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more, while Trump claimed 42 percent.

While a four-point lead may not be a huge edge — especially as it falls within the poll's overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points — Bloomberg Politics contended it "may sound an alarm" for Trump:

...because they show he's failing, at least so far, to dominate among a group of voters who historically have supported Republicans, including Mitt Romney in 2012. In that election, the group made up 28 percent of the electorate and backed Romney over President Barack Obama by 10 percentage points, exit polls show.Since 1996, the Republican presidential nominee has won or tied among voters with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more, according to a compilation of exit polls by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. Republicans also won the top-earning groups publicly identified by the Roper Center in the 1976-1992 elections. [Bloomberg Politics]

The poll, taken Sept. 16-19, surveyed a "nationally representative opt-in panel of 600 respondents." You can read more of the findings at Bloomberg Politics.