As the final races of this election cycle are being called and politicians start to look toward the future, one thing is clear: America moved closer to the political right, and specifically toward. Donald Trump. Trump won every competitive state, and in other states, excluding a select few counties, the electorate voted more Republican this year. Counties home to large cities such as Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago saw significant increases in GOP support. Even the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital and the most Democratic part of the nation, had an almost two percent shift towards Trump. However, despite all of this, the Republican nominee still had a favorability rating of only 44% according to exit polls. So, why did the nation elect him? People knew what they were getting into with Donald Trump, while many couldn’t say the same for Kamala Harris.
For much of the campaign, Trump, who was pretty unpopular in many respects during his first term, was leading in the polls against current President Joe Biden. This was not because he had a jolt of popularity, but rather, Biden’s own unpopularity had increased dramatically. Biden had not had a favorability rating of 50% or more since mid-Aug. 2021 and had not had a positive approval rating overall since Sept. 2021. Since then, the incumbent president has become deeply unpopular, with an approval rating of just 38% when the Democratic Party primaries officially finished in early June of this year. This, along with Biden’s poor debate performance in late June, solidified his unpopularity with many, and as the writing on the wall started to become blinding, Biden officially left the race for president in July of this year. For the first time in a long time, the Democratic party received a gleam of hope from his Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Harris herself was not perfect. She was relatively quiet during her term as vice president, and many knew little about her. However, to some, there was hope in that. Most Americans were dreading a rematch between two men they saw as out of touch, too politically divisive and too old to effectively govern. The biggest dread of all was that Americans knew what they were getting into with both candidates, and both roads were deeply wretched to many. Harris, however, had a relatively clean record in most minds and more importantly, had a chance to form a view of a positive road to an uncertain future, in contrast to Trump. This chance, however, never seemed to materialize.
Throughout her time as the Democratic nominee, she had many uphill battles that she could not do much to fight. Upon becoming the presumptive nominee on July 23, Harris only had 105 days to run a campaign that Donald Trump had been running, in many areas, since 2021. She had just over three months to not only distinguish herself to the American people, but also to distance herself from an administration many seemed to loathe, and an administration where she was the number two position. These two factors, it seems, would bring about her eventual loss. With just 105 days, she only really defined herself in a large way to many Americans through her successful debate performance in September of this year, but that alone was not enough to show people why she should receive their votes. She made many little mistakes throughout the campaign as well, such as delving heavily into negativity in an electorate ready for hope or declining offers for free publicity for her campaign, such as refusing an offer to speak on The Joe Rogan Experience, the highest streamed podcast in America. Her campaign also lacked an issues page on her website, which laid out her plans if she was elected president, until October of this year, just a month before the election.
Above all, though, the thing that dragged her down most was that she was never successful in defining herself and detaching herself from the unpopular Biden. The American people seemed to define her themselves. Their definition was that she was the status quo in a time when people yearned for change. While people knew what they were getting into with Trump, it was still a change from the incumbency many were worried about for another four years. While many defined Harris as the status quo, much of the electorate seemed to define Trump as a leader who could bring the country back to an era of good economic standing and to a time where many saw the future as possibly bright despite their dislike for Trump, and this definition seemed to resonate with voters more than a definition of uncertainty and a continuation of the former administration.
Why Harris Lost
As the final races of this election cycle are being called and politicians start to look toward the future, one thing is clear: America moved closer to the political right, and specifically toward. Donald Trump. Trump won every competitive state, and in other states, excluding a select few counties, the electorate voted more Republican this year. Counties home to large cities such as Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago saw significant increases in GOP support. Even the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital and the most Democratic part of the nation, had an almost two percent shift towards Trump. However, despite all of this, the Republican nominee still had a favorability rating of only 44% according to exit polls. So, why did the nation elect him? People knew what they were getting into with Donald Trump, while many couldn’t say the same for Kamala Harris.
For much of the campaign, Trump, who was pretty unpopular in many respects during his first term, was leading in the polls against current President Joe Biden. This was not because he had a jolt of popularity, but rather, Biden’s own unpopularity had increased dramatically. Biden had not had a favorability rating of 50% or more since mid-Aug. 2021 and had not had a positive approval rating overall since Sept. 2021. Since then, the incumbent president has become deeply unpopular, with an approval rating of just 38% when the Democratic Party primaries officially finished in early June of this year. This, along with Biden’s poor debate performance in late June, solidified his unpopularity with many, and as the writing on the wall started to become blinding, Biden officially left the race for president in July of this year. For the first time in a long time, the Democratic party received a gleam of hope from his Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Harris herself was not perfect. She was relatively quiet during her term as vice president, and many knew little about her. However, to some, there was hope in that. Most Americans were dreading a rematch between two men they saw as out of touch, too politically divisive and too old to effectively govern. The biggest dread of all was that Americans knew what they were getting into with both candidates, and both roads were deeply wretched to many. Harris, however, had a relatively clean record in most minds and more importantly, had a chance to form a view of a positive road to an uncertain future, in contrast to Trump. This chance, however, never seemed to materialize.
Throughout her time as the Democratic nominee, she had many uphill battles that she could not do much to fight. Upon becoming the presumptive nominee on July 23, Harris only had 105 days to run a campaign that Donald Trump had been running, in many areas, since 2021. She had just over three months to not only distinguish herself to the American people, but also to distance herself from an administration many seemed to loathe, and an administration where she was the number two position. These two factors, it seems, would bring about her eventual loss. With just 105 days, she only really defined herself in a large way to many Americans through her successful debate performance in September of this year, but that alone was not enough to show people why she should receive their votes. She made many little mistakes throughout the campaign as well, such as delving heavily into negativity in an electorate ready for hope or declining offers for free publicity for her campaign, such as refusing an offer to speak on The Joe Rogan Experience, the highest streamed podcast in America. Her campaign also lacked an issues page on her website, which laid out her plans if she was elected president, until October of this year, just a month before the election.
Above all, though, the thing that dragged her down most was that she was never successful in defining herself and detaching herself from the unpopular Biden. The American people seemed to define her themselves. Their definition was that she was the status quo in a time when people yearned for change. While people knew what they were getting into with Trump, it was still a change from the incumbency many were worried about for another four years. While many defined Harris as the status quo, much of the electorate seemed to define Trump as a leader who could bring the country back to an era of good economic standing and to a time where many saw the future as possibly bright despite their dislike for Trump, and this definition seemed to resonate with voters more than a definition of uncertainty and a continuation of the former administration.