The 2024 election was a highly contested election. The results were very disappointing for many, while others are thrilled by the results. One thing most voters can agree on is that the results were surprising. The news and polls prior to the results were wrong, and had painted the election as if it was going to be very close. Even from experience, I can remember many polls or predictions stating that Harris was going to win, or it was going to be very close. On the day of the election, 538 polls, a well-known, reputable polling source, even stated that Harris had a 50.5% chance of winning, compared to Trump’s 49.2%. Back in August, many were saying the DNC had contagious enthusiasm that would surely help the democrats prevail. This all alludes to one question, how could it be this way and have Harris lose all seven swing states and the popular vote? This is because of political demonizing, lack of independence from incumbent, lack of messaging, and lack of choice.
Political Demonizing
Surprisingly, there was a lot of focus on Trump himself in Harris’s campaign. Certain statements like “we’re not going back”, referencing Trump’s past presidency, or the immediate focus on telling all voters that Trump will end democracy, and critiquing certain controversial things he said. Basically, Harris is doing what we would like to call, “fighting fire with fire”. On the other hand, the Trump campaign kept the message from 2016, “MAGA (Make America Great Again)” While it is true that Trump has said many controversial statements presently and previously, it is not a good look to focus a lot of your campaign on Trump’s statements and character. The problem with Harris’s strategy was that she decided to paint a bad picture of Trump, rather than a well composed picture of her. These statements help rile up her staunch base, but it does not help with the American moderate. Focusing on relaying the message that Trump is going to take away democracy and other rights does not make people thrilled to really vote for you. It is essentially just stating that “this person is really bad, so you have to vote for me or else.” This rhetoric does not make people enthused to vote for you or even motivated. Moderates that are not sure who to vote for would rather see someone talking about inflation, healthcare, housing prices, and border security. These are all hot topic issues that Harris should have given more reason to voting for her, and why Trump’s economic policies would not help the working class. Rather than talking about the working class more, she did not disprove Trump’s plan enough, and attacked his character and integrity more than his actual plans. Attacking the other can help, but Harris would need to focus more on how she would help the working class, as many working class moderates feel left behind by the constant rhetoric Harris was campaigning for. To sum up, talking about Trump’s horrific acts he will do when he gets into office is not enough to win over working class people. Harris would have to focus more on policy that would help others, and why Trump’s policies would hurt others.
Lack of Independence from Incumbent
As part of the Biden administration, Harris had a unique challenge to try to distance her from the mistakes of the current administration. This was an opportunity to make it seem like she would bring change to the current status quo. However, she did not take this opportunity. For instance, on the View, Sunny Hostin asked her if she would do anything differently from the current administration, to which she said “nothing comes to mind”. This sentiment does not resonate with many voters, especially with the inflation that has been happening over the past years. While the economy is doing good, people do not feel that way because we have only seen prices risen exponentially. When Harris states that she would not do anything differently than Biden, people tend to believe it is just going to be another 4 years of Biden’s administration, with a different face attached to it. Voters do not usually like to hear that when the current administration still has a lot of issues to solve. Additionally, when she tries to present herself as being a new face to the current administration, it backfires on her because before she says she will not do any differently but then states she will do first-time housing credits, allow Roe V. Wade to be restored, and crack down on corporate price gouging. On paper, these sound like great ideas if you are a democrat, but, then there’s an argument that if she is in the current administration, why would she not do it now? When Harris states she will do nothing differently than the current president, why should she not enact these ideas now, why wait? It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of voters because it feels like she is just lying to get elected into office, and then maintain the same status quo for the last 4 years. If she and Biden had enacted these legislative acts earlier, I believe that her words would have meant more.
Lack of Messaging
Due to the time crunch, Harris had a lot on her plate. She had to somewhat message all of the states, while placing importance on the swing states. While she did place a lot of importance on the swing states, she basically left behind a huge portion of America. On top of that, most of this “messaging” was through social media and scripted content. According to Axios.com, a site that shows where campaign visits were for Harris and Trump, Harris really only visited 13 states, half of those states being a one-time visit, or a pit stop. Unsurprisingly, both candidates spent most of their time in the great swing state of Pennsylvania, where combined, both visited 52 times. Being in Pennsylvania has given me a biased perception of the election. Due to the fact that Pennsylvania is the largest swing state, voters were constantly getting harassed by Harris and Trump ads and surveys. However, in many non-swing states this was not the case. For instance, neither candidate decided to visit Florida, which is still one of the bigger states and one that Trump only won by 3 points in 2020. This type of messaging that ignores most of the country for the sake of the swing states is understandable, but it leaves behind a lot of voters that believe their vote doesn’t matter. Additionally, she did not message on key issues, and focused too much on social issues or Trump’s own character as a criminal and con-man. This makes it even harder for middle America to feel enough motivation to vote for her, and even in her “safe” states. For instance, In New Jersey, Biden won by 725,000 votes in 2020, but Harris only won by only 250,000 votes. Another reason is just plain stupid tactics to get the youth. Throughout the election, the tik tok account “Harris HQ”, had humorous jokes directed towards the Trump campaign. This is messaging but not enough. Another thing that Harris decides to do is to have as many celebrity endorsements as possible. For instance, Cardi B doing a very scripted speech, having Beyonce perform on stage, and having Eminem’s endorsement has made little to no effect on the actual votes. I understand, it helps your campaign seem “fun” and young, but let’s face it, nobody cares if you have Beyonce at your rally unless you’re going to it, people want more effective policies that help them.
Lack of Choice
The final reason is there being no choice to have her the Democrat’s nominee. While she was elected by the delegates, she was never actually “democratically” elected through a primary election. Many believe that if Biden had dropped out earlier, there would have been a primary to find a candidate that was actually elected by the party. I feel this left a bad taste in some voters. People felt that if Biden were to drop out, as he did, he should have done it much sooner, and that way they were allowed to elect someone. This is not saying that Kamala Harris could not have won the democratic primary, but just simply stating that not many people knew about Kamala as the vice president, and might have chosen someone else more appealing. This also could have made Democrats feel like they were being “forced” into choosing a candidate that was not even chosen by them. Therefore, I feel like if Harris was actually democratically elected, it would have helped her chances of winning because people do not feel forced to vote for her.
Conclusion
Against Trump and his allies, I feel as if the Harris campaign was not sufficient enough in order to counteract. This was due to a multitude of factors that were in control of Harris, and also out of control of Harris. However, I feel as if the most pressing factors were political demonizing, lack of independence from incumbent, lack of messaging, and lack of choice.
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