A breakdown of those who voted for Donald Trump has revealed how 33 per cent of Latino men and 26 per cent of Latino women backed the Republican at the ballot box.

Despite the 70-year-old's tough talk about Mexican immigrants in the run-up to the election, he held on to roughly the same share of Hispanic voters as Romney had claimed four years ago, exit polls show.

Trump sensationally won the White House this morning as he inflicted a humiliating defeat on Hillary Clinton.

A breakdown of those who voted for Donald Trump has revealed how 33 per cent of Latino men and 26 per cent of Latino women backed the Republican at the ballot box

Trump sensationally won the White House this morning as he inflicted a humiliating defeat on Hillary Clinton

During campaigning, Clinton had said 'half' of Trump's supporters were backward-thinking enough to be 'irredeemable' and to belong in a 'basket of deplorables'.

Statistics show 52 per cent of white women also voted for Trump - despite fury over allegations about his treatment of women , including one woman who sued him for an alleged teen rape – and then withdrew the case when her story fell apart.

Latino activist groups had hoped to showcase their rising political power in the presidential election by blocking Trump in battleground states, and stopping him from ever acting on his tough views on immigration.

The voters came, but Trump won anyway. Reuters/Ipsos Election Day polling showed that America's surging population of Hispanic voters heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton across a swath of hotly contested states but may have been overwhelmed by underestimated support for Trump.

The former secretary of state won about 66 per cent of Latino votes nationwide, versus 28 per cent for Trump, according to the survey of around 45,000 people who cast ballots.

During campaigning, Clinton had said 'half' of Trump's supporters were backward-thinking enough to be 'irredeemable' and to belong in a 'basket of deplorables'

But that support lagged President Barack Obama's 70 per cent backing from Hispanics during his 2012 re-election campaign, and was not enough to counter an outpouring of support for Trump among his core demographics - older voters, whites, and those without college degrees.

The election's outcome is a blow for a rapidly growing segment of the population that has for decades relegated itself to the sidelines of American politics, and was looking to use opposition to Trump's fiery anti-immigration rhetoric to broaden its influence.

Hispanics made up 17.6 of the country's population in 2015, according to the Census, making them the largest ethnic minority. That's up 12 percent from 2012. And by 2060, more than one-in-four people in America will be Latino.

Trump's relationship with Hispanic voters began on an awkward footing when he launched his bid for the presidency in June 2015, calling for tighter borders and accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers into the United States.

Trump held on to roughly the same share of Hispanic voters as Romney had claimed four years ago, exit polls show

He insisted he would force Mexico to pay for a multi-billion dollar wall along the border to keep unwanted foreigners out of the United States, and vowed to round up and deport the 11 million of undocumented immigrants already in the country.

Those positions, which became a cornerstone of his campaign, resonated on Tuesday among voters.

Clinton sought to contrast her campaign with Trump's by advocating for a path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants living in the country. She also hired immigrant activists to her campaign, and featured undocumented immigrants at rallies.

But she and the Democratic Party had at times raised the ire of Latino activists by focusing too heavily on bashing Trump while putting forward less-than substantive efforts to appeal directly to Latinos.

Latino organizations also lobbied Clinton to pick an Hispanic running mate, floating names like Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro for the job. She ultimately picked Tim Kaine, a senator from Virginia.

Latino activist groups nonetheless worked hard this year to mobilize a community that has typically voted at lower rates than both white and black voters. In 2008, less than half of Latinos who were eligible to cast ballots actually did - and the rate dipped in 2012, according to the Census.

In contrast, the voting rates for white and black voters were both well over 60 percent.

While Clinton won Hispanics, black and young voters, she did not win those groups by greater margins than Obama did in 2012.

Younger blacks did not support Clinton like they did Obama, as she won eight of 10 black voters between the ages of 35 and 54. Obama won almost 100 percent of those voters in 2012.

Meanwhile, an Associated Press poll found Trump won by dominating among white voters, especially non-college-educated men, trumping Clinton's coalition of women, minorities and young people.

Trump, who once famously declared that he loved the uneducated, got plenty of love back from white voters who never graduated from college: He got 7 in 10 votes from non-college-educated white men and 6 in 10 votes from non-college-educated white women.

Supporters cry during the vote count at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's election night rally at the Javits Center in New York

The advantage Trump had among whites without a college degree compared with whites who graduated from college was the largest seen in exit polls for a Republican since the surveys started in 1972.

Clinton, meanwhile, got the support of less than a quarter of white men without a college degree; Barack Obama, by contrast, drew about a third of their votes four years ago.

The Democrat did make some inroads with college-educated white women. Just over half supported her, while four years ago just over half of that group had backed Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.

Nearly 7 in 10 voters said they were unhappy with the way the government is working, including a quarter who said they were outright angry, according to preliminary results of exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.

Three-fourths of those angry voters backed Trump. Six in 10 voters said the country is on the wrong track.

Meanwhile, Clinton largely managed to hang on to the millennials who were such a big part of Obama's winning coalition.

Young people age 18-29 supported Clinton over Trump by nearly as strong a margin as their support of Obama over Romney in 2012.