Update: Well I get to eat crow on this one! While demographic shifts did aid Clinton, it looks like she may win the popular vote but lose the electoral college, as Al Gore did in 2000. But while I (and many) were surprised by this result, at HiddenLevers we made sure to prepare our audience for the possibilites by looking at the election through the lens of risk parity. Whatever you were hoping for in Election 2016, it helps to be prepared for all the contingencies! Watch our pre-election webinar and scenario forecasts here.

Original Post Below:

It’s become fashionable in the media to compare today’s election to Brexit, and to forecast that the result may play out similarly. Markets and the mainstream will be shocked when the silent majority rises up and defies the global elites! But is this analogy really apt for the US? What’s surprising is the lack of demographic comparisons – the simple fact is that the US looks nothing like the UK, and voter demographics matter even more in an election like 2016.

The UK’s Population was 87% white at the 2011 census, and its voting population is whiter and older since many minorities are relatively recent immigrants. The US, by way of contrast, is 61% white, with the voting population estimated to be roughly 69% white in the 2016 election. A 26 percentage point difference between the US and UK mean that the two are worlds apart – the Brexit comparison simply falls down in this light. Mr. Trump may be losing minorities by as many as 50 percentage points, helping to explain the early voting results in places like Nevada. Demographics pose another challenge for Mr. Trump – his voters are on average already more likely than minority voters to turn out, and so the surge he may have whipped up could hurt him as much as it helps him.

While a Clinton victory today isn’t guaranteed, those making simplistic comparisons to Brexit are ignoring the world of difference between the population voting today, and the population in the UK that voted back in June.