Donald Trump has called on a crowd of his supporters to cheer black people who did not vote in the US presidential election.

The President-elect told a predominantly white crown in Hershey, Pennsylvania, that African-Americans were “’smart” to stay at home on Election Day and not vote for Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump said: “We did great with the African-American community. So good.

“Remember the famous line, cause I’d talk about crime, I’d talk about lack of education and I’d talk about no jobs. And I’d say ‘What the hell do you have to lose, right?’ It’s true.

“And they’re smart and they picked up on it like you don’t believe, and you know what else, they didn’t come out to vote for Hillary, they didn’t come out. And that was the big… so thank you to the African-American community.”

The businessman had previously used a rally in Michigan to thank African-Americans who did not vote in the election, suggesting they were “almost as good” as those who backed him.

Exit polls suggest Mr Trump had the support of just eight per cent of black Americans compared to 88 per cent for his Democrat rival, Hillary Clinton.

Despite this, Mrs Clinton won a smaller proportion of votes from ethnic minorities, including African-Americans, than Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The current President was backed by 93 per cent of black Americans in 2012.

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Mr Trump used his latest victory rally to thank Pennsylvania voters who helped him win the state for the Republicans for the first time since 1988.

He said: “Everybody leaves Pennsylvania thinking they won Pennsylvania …and every time they lose by a lot.

“This was a landslide victory”, Mr Trump said of his election win – despite Ms Clinton winning the popular vote by 2.8 million votes.

The President-elect also reiterated many of the populist pledges he made during the election campaign, including promising to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

He said: “We’re going to build the wall, don’t worry about it”, adding immigration constituted “one of the greatest public safety threats”.

The billionaire businessman also suggested “anybody else –a normal person” would not have attracted the crowds he has during his victory tour.