US election 2016: The untold story of Donald Trump's win

  • Published
Trump busImage source, European Photopress Agency

Many of the headlines after Donald Trump's win in Nevada were about how he widened his support base to include Hispanics, women and educated voters. But is that true?

The man who likes winning won. And he won BIG.

The billionaire who has never held political office was supposed to be a candidate who would never get above 40%. In Nevada he smashed that, hitting nearly 46%.

He has also been cast as a candidate too reliant on votes from white people, yet on Tuesday night he was supported by 45% of the Hispanics, way ahead of his Cuban-American rivals.

And far from being too reliant on people without a college education, he won big among graduates too.

However, there is more to these impressive stats than meets the eye.

46%

of the overall vote went to Donald Trump

  • 45% of Hispanics

  • 40% of college graduates

  • 47% white

Getty Images

So his march to the Republican nomination is all but assured, right?

If he really had strong support in so many different demographic groups, he would be almost impossible to stop.

But how many people in Nevada actually voted for him?

34,531

votes cast for Donald Trump. That's only:

  • 1% of Nevada's total population of 2.9 million

Getty Images

0.01%

of the entire US population of 319 million

Getty Images

And how many people is that? Here's a few more statistics for comparison.

37,000

the approximate population of the country of Liechtenstein in 2015

Getty Images

35,547

number of fans in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace match at the weekend

Getty Images

35,201

the number of votes UK Prime Minister David Cameron received in his Witney constituency in the 2015 general election

Getty Images

That doesn't mean Mr Trump won't go on to do the same in larger states with a bigger sample.

But the jury is still out on whether he can really draw on support across the board.

We will find out this Tuesday, so-called Super Tuesday, when 11 states go to the polls.