The Democrat candidate Kamala Harris has lost the US presidential elections 2024.
While many political pundits had already predicted her loss, they are shocked by how badly she was defeated, with Donald Trump surpassing the requisite 270 electoral college numbers in no time. Not only that, he also won the progressive vote.
BBC reports that Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an email to campaign staff on Wednesday, “This will take a long time to process.”
Political pundits are attributing the defeat to a number of factors:
Stance on Gaza genocide
First thing first, it’s the baggage of Joe Biden’s murky legacy that Harris carried and then owned. In an op-ed for The Guardian back in August, Mehdi Hassan wrote, “Biden’s Gaza policy is a liability for Kamala Harris. She must break with Biden now.”
Israel’s carnage in Gaza alienated more Dem voters than the party believed.
Media reports suggest that a large number of Arab-American voters, young voters and Muslims generally did not vote for Kamala Harris because of her commitment to sustaining the flow of US weapons to Israel and her rhetoric of “Israel has the right to defend herself.”
While she tried to redeem herself by saying that she will end the “war in Gaza” during her last speech in the swing state of Michigan with a large population of Arab-American citizens, the erstwhile state still voted for Trump’s Republican party, and more importantly, for the anti-Israel Jill Stein.
Biden’s approval ratings has consistently plummeted in the last four years and this impacted Kamala badly as two thirds of voters believed that the country is on the wrong track and that Kamala will continue Joe Biden’s policies.
America’s support of Ukraine, both militarily and financially, was enabled by Biden’s administration of which Harris was a part and also a key factor as well. As per the recent numbers, the Democratic administration provided more than $64.1 billion in military assistance alone.
Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly reminded his supporters that he never started a war in his tenure.
Policies on Climate
Kamala’s change of stance on climate also paved the way for her loss. While she opposed “fracking”-the artificial matter of extracting gas- during her campaign, she confirmed that she will not seek to ban fracking if elected.
Climate activists also alleged that her tone towards climate changed over time.
Flaws in campaigning style
Kamala got endorsements from all the big shots of Hollywood like Taylor Swift and Beyonce while Trump was seen attending rallies, meeting voters and serving fries at a McDonalds drive-thru.
Quoting the Democrat campaign misjudgments, analyst Leigh Sales said, “The Democrats also had a tin ear when it came to the gap between rich and poor and how politically potent it is. Why was Harris constantly campaigning with squillionaire celebrities?”
Illegal immigration
Trump’s “America First” slogan gained traction from many quarters all around the country as he targeted the issue of Illegal immigration. Kamala, on the other hand, has shown leniency as she advocated for strict border security and reforms.
Economic policies
Last but not least, ever-growing inflation in Biden’s four-year-tenure contributed in steering voters away from Kamala’s side. Reportedly, the inflation rate was the highest after the 1970’s.
