According to Donald Trump’s campaign pollster, the major shift between his unsuccessful 2020 bid and victorious 2024 campaign was his experience with defeat, which fueled his determination to reclaim the presidency.

When John McLaughlin, alongside other campaign strategists, devised a plan to target the four demographic strongholds of the Democratic Party, Trump was all ears.

“Trump remains true to himself, but if you informed him of necessary actions to secure a win, he was committed to following through,” McLaughlin shared with DailyMail.com.

“Unlike the previous cycle, where he hadn’t experienced loss and only knew victory, this time, he was receptive to input.”

“He was absorbing valuable advice and taking strategic actions,” McLaughlin added.

Former President Donald Trump took the stage and declared victory in the early hours of Wednesday morning, cementing an extraordinary political comeback 

This strategic shift was evident on Tuesday night when Trump successfully captured pivotal battleground states.

He is even on course to become the first Republican candidate to win the popular vote in 20 years. 

The result stunned opponents and has already triggered soul-searching among Democrats.

McLaughlin talked to DailyMail.com about the key voter groups that broke Trump’s way. 

Exit polls show Trump eroded the long standing advantage of Democrats among young people, and eat into their lead among key ethnic groups.

So while Joe Biden in 2020 had a 24-point lead among 18-29-year-olds over Trump in 2020, that was almost halved to 13 points for Harris. 

McLaughlin said young people in particular who wanted to save for a home or a car or to start a family had hit particularly hard by the cost of living crisis.

‘So there’s a lot of personal dissatisfaction with younger voters, with the way the country is being run, in the situation they’re in,’ he said.

Promising no tax on tips and overtime was one way of helping restore the idea of the American Dream for young people, he said.

Results of exit polls show how Trump ate into the Democratic coalition, picking up votes among young people in particular

That was one of four groups targeted, including African-Americans, Hispanic voters and suburban moms. 

Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin talked to DailyMail.com hours after Trump’s sensational election victory and broke down the voter groups that delivered victory

‘A lot of the sports moms who are older went with us because of their daughters … they’re being threatened with these men who are playing women’s sports,’ he said.

‘Not only is it a fairness thing when they’re in the sport but it’s also a safety thing where they don’t want the guys in their locker rooms.’

Exit polls show Harris got three percent less of the female vote than Biden did in 2020.

And Trump set a record for a Republican with Hispanic voters, claiming a 45 percent vote share, beating George W. Bush’s 44 percent in 2004. 

McLaughlin said that was the goal of the strategy but it was only successful because of the work of Trump. 

Exit polls found that Trump had the highest Latino support for a Republican in 20 years

Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech at Howard University, Washington, D.C., on Wednesday after losing the election to former president Trump

‘I mean, he’s a really unique, historic figure,’ he said, describing the prosecutions and adversity he faced.

There was less of an impact on African-American voters. The exit polls showed that Trump narrowed the gap with Harris among black men by two points, compared with 2020. 

Trump allies said the overall result was profound shift in the landscape of American politics. 

‘Kids will study this generation from now and try to really grasp the significance of how there’s been a shift from the Republican Party being the party of the Wall Street elite, to the Republican Party being the party of working class Americans and people who believe in the Free market and in God,’ said David Urban, political commentator and Trump confidant.

He added that Trump had used his rallies to make a personal connection in a way that other political leaders had struggled to do and delivered a message of ‘American exceptionalism’ that tied his policies together.

There was less of an impact with African-American voters, although Trump closed the gap on Harris by two points nationwide

‘You may be a first generation Guatemalan-American, who just got here,’ he added. 

‘And you believe that this country is great, otherwise you wouldn’t come here.’

Trump himself set out the historic nature of his victory in the early hours of Wednesday when he addressed supporters.

‘We’ve built the biggest, the broadest, the most unified coalition,’ he said.

‘They’ve never seen anything like it in all of American history, they’ve never seen so many young and old men and women, rural and urban, and we had them all helping us tonight.’