THE United States of America lost the opportunity for the second time to elect their first-ever woman president. Democratic candidate, vice president Kamala Harris, a daughter of immigrant parents, lost to Donald Trump by a massive margin. An American presidential candidate must obtain 270 electoral votes out of 538 to secure office. Former Republican president Donald Trump won in a landslide victory, securing 295 electoral votes, while Democratic candidate Kamala Harris received only 226 electoral votes. Two states, Nevada and Arizona’s vote counts are yet to be finalised; however, there is a clear indication that Donald Trump is winning those two states. Kamala Harris also lost in popular votes as well as electoral votes. According to the New York Times (November 6, 2024), in terms of voting turnout, Donald Trump received nearly 72 million six hundred twenty-four thousand popular votes, which is almost 51 per cent whereas Kamala Harris achieved almost 67 million nine hundred twenty-eight thousand, which is slightly less than 48 per cent. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump lost by more than a 4 per cent margin to Joe Biden.

Lost in battleground/swing states

IN AMERICAN presidential elections, swing or battleground states — where Democrats and Republicans both have similar supporters or voters — are critical because those who win in swing states are likely to win in the presidential race. The states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada are considered swing states, and those seven states have a total of 93 electoral votes. Democrat has almost 226 secured electoral votes, which are mostly in the East and West Coast, and they needed 44 more electoral votes to make it 270. Therefore, the Democratic Party must win at least Pennsylvania (19), Michigan (15), and Wisconsin (10) to get a ticket for Capitol Hill. These three states have a total of 44 electoral votes, and, in fact, Democrats suffered not only in these three states but also in four other states: Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada. In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost six swing states except Nevada to Donald Trump, and it repeated in 2024; Kamala Harris lost all seven, including Nevada. This is the second time Democrats suffered in Pennsylvania and Michigan since 1992. When Donald Trump became president in 2016, he won Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Why did Kamal Harris lose?

THE United States got two chances to elect their first woman president, but they failed. There are many considerable factors that propelled the defeat of the Democratic Party. Harris only had around three and a half months for the election campaign when current president Joe Biden withdrew him from the presidential race. Following the defeat, Kamala Harris, in her concession speech at Howard University, Washington, D.C., said, ‘A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results…That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honour it’ (New York Times, November 6, 2024). She also said that she congratulated Donald Trump earlier in the day. Nevertheless, the question is why Kamala Harris was miserably defeated by Donald Trump. I list a few reasons that I feel were instrumental in Harris’s defeat. I would like to argue that the lack of coordination among the democratic leaders and elected officials was a key reason for the defeat in the battleground states. For example, Pennsylvania is the biggest swing state with 19 electoral votes, and in that state, Democrats were not able to materialise and translate the Democrat agenda to the voters. Local Democrats in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, complained that there was a lack of support and persuasion from the Democratic Party (Politico, November 6, 2024). According to political scientist Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia, Kamala Harris’s political campaign was ‘inadequate.’

The second pivotal reason is ongoing inflation in the US. Since the pandemic, inflation has been unchecked and constant. Prices of some regular grocery products became expensive. A gallon of milk was below $3 for a long time, and now buyers need to spend more than $4, and a dozen eggs were less than $2, and now it is between 3 and 4 dollars. Most importantly, house rent has increased insanely since the pandemic. The lower middle class and middle class are immensely suffering from inflation. There was no visible action from the Biden administration to rein in inflation.

Another crucial factor that forced Kamal Harris to defeat is the ongoing Gaza war. Many Muslim voters withdrew their support for Kamala Harris because the Democratic Party supported Israel. President Joe Biden’s administration has been showing their unwavering support for Israel despite massive protests across the country against US financial and military support for Israel. Many Muslim voters, primarily voters in battleground/swing states, voted for Donald Trump. Michigan is one of the critical swing states that is considered a hub of Muslim voters, particularly in Dearborn and Detroit. Muslim leaders of Dearborn, Michigan, met with Donald Trump and delivered a speech at his campaign rally in Dearborn and asked Muslim voters to vote for Donald Trump. In the rally, Trump raised Muslims and Arabs to endorse him, and he assured that he would work to bring peace in the Middle East. Trump received 81,750 more votes compared to Harris in Michigan, and it is assumed that most of the Muslims in Michigan voted for Trump.

Significantly, Democrats lost support from young voters in the age range of 18 to 29. Voters of this age group traditionally vote for the Democratic Party. In 2020, Joe Biden received 62 per cent of young adults’ votes, whereas Kamala Harris received 55.5 per cent of young adults’ votes. This age group is college students, and voters with college degrees are more likely to vote for the Democrat (CNN, November 6, 2024). However, Trump received more votes from 45-64 age group voters. Trump received 55 per cent while Harris got 45 per cent. One of the deciding factors for receiving a lower number of votes from young adults is the cancellation of student loan forgiveness. In the post-pandemic period, the Biden administration forgave student loans to one million borrowers. The government gave back the amount to the borrowers who had already paid. However, a lawsuit from GOP-led states blocked the relief programme of student loan forgiveness. Later, students were forced to repay the loan, which inflamed anger among the borrowers and fortified their negative perceptions of the Democratic Party.

Finally, many observers argue that Americans are not ready yet to see a woman as their president. Associate Press surveyed 120,000 voters and found that 53 per cent of women supported Harris while 46 per cent supported Donald Trump. Denise Martin, a resident of Georgia, told AP, ‘I really feel like the majority of Americans still aren’t ready for a woman. They are so shortsighted’ (AP, November 6, 2024). Importantly, fewer black men voted for Kamala Harris compared to black women (CNN, November 6, 2024).

Dr Didarul Islam Manik is a faculty of communication at Central New Mexico Community College, USA.