As the majority of Americans may already know, Donald J. Trump has just been elected the 47th President of the United States. He beat his rival from across the aisle, Kamala Harris, with 312 points from the Electoral College and a lead of approximately 3 million in the popular vote. President Trump is the first Republican in twenty years to win the popular vote in a presidential election, shocking many by once again taking the presidential office.
With what seems like the unwavering support of the Democratic party, why did Harris lose in this pivotal matchup? What may seem like a complex question is very simple: Harris and the Democratic party failed the American people, leading a disastrous campaign whilst failing to garner support on all sides of the center-left political spectrum.
During the election cycle, it seemed as if much of Harris’ attention was on gaining the support of the youth. While campaigning on all fronts is important, the youth vote is overwhelmingly blue already. Her “brat” themed memes and youth-centric strategies ultimately failed because much of the youth was voting for her already. Harris and her team missed on rallying older generations further, especially those who were still indecisive about which side they were going to cast their ballot for.
In an editorial op-ed published by the Boston Globe, Senator Bernie Sanders discussed why he believed the Democrats ultimately failed during this election. He discussed statistics such as the 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck as well as the staggering medical debts Americans are facing. Trump used these issues to enrage voters, while Kamala failed to correctly respond to these issues, leaving much of America confused as to how the blue party would help them if she was sworn into office. These issues directly affect all Americans, and it seems like the left dropped the ball, targeting smaller groups while believing their former core voters would not shift — with that being a critical mistake made by the Democrats.
With that being said, racism and sexism had a part in the election too. With Harris running a campaign to be the second Black president, as well as the first woman president, it would be a massive hurdle to overcome prejudice. Men overwhelmingly voted against Harris, with 55% of men voting for the GOP in key states — with even more staggering results in Texas, having all race demographics except for Black men voting more in favor of Trump. There was a 2% increase overall in men voting red from the last election, and major jumps in Republican voting for minority groups, with Latino men having a 14% increase since 2020, from 32% to 46%.
Following the election, many men expressed their views on the pivotal win in regard to their views on women. In a viral thread, Nick Fuentes posted “Hey, bitch, we control your bodies! Guess what, guys win again.” Another viral post from Fuentes said, “It’s your body, my choice.” Posts like these show the overwhelming disrespect for women and their bodily autonomy from the now growing political right, but it does not mean their bigotry is why Kamala lost.
While sexism may be attributed to much of this, Harris lost ground with women as well in this election. In 2020, 57% of women voters were blue while in this election cycle, only 53% voted blue. Harris and the party were unable to keep ground with what should have been their strongest demographic, especially so with the back-and-forth struggle between abortion rights and healthcare action across the U.S. and the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The Democratic party seems to have fallen short this election cycle, leading a pitiful campaign; they will surely have to build themselves up to have a chance in 2028.
