Harris only received five percent of Republican votes — less than the six percent Joe Biden won in 2020 when he beat Trump, as well as the seven percent won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 when she lost to him. While Harris won independents and moderates, she did so by smaller margins than Biden did in 2020.
Meanwhile, Harris lost households earning under $100,000, while Democratic turnout collapsed. Votes are still being counted, but Harris is on pace to underperform Biden’s 2020 totals by millions of votes.
To be honest Harris wasted time and effort sucking up to the infinitesimally small number of non-MAGA GOPers. Time that would have been better spent emphasizing her pro worker policies.
I think the real problem is that we live amongst a sea of imbeciles.
Yea courting Republicans was a bad move IMHO. But she’s a establishment dem. So go figure.
According to conservatives on reddit, she is “far left, even more extreme than Bernie” and that’s why she lost.
How so… she is a far right democrat. Pro big oil and corporations and heavy handed on many issues from her time as DA.
If anything she is to far right for most dems.
Are you telling me enthusiastically embracing the support of the Cheney’s lowered democratic turnout!?! Whoda thunk?!?! Hopefully that’s the end of the neoliberals
Dang, how did that work out? Oh? Alot like 2016 you say?
Bipartisanship is dead.
No one wants to work with people that they view as inherently evil, corrupt, and a threat to democracy.
The way political cooperation, negotiation and compromise are viewed as acts of unforgivable weakness in the US sets up a climate where functional democracy appears impossible. The US seems destined to lurch from one impulse to another with half the country thinking each is a colossal mistake and an affront to their way of life.
No, I do not mean this as any kind of “both sides” argument. The fact there are only sides to determining how a society governs itself, the winners and the losers, is the point.
We have a two party system which is inherently hyper polarizing as it paints everything as being black and white. It is an unbelievably stupid and undemocratic system, and unfortunately, nothing will ever improve until we replace our broken two party system with a modern multiparty democracy
and unfortunately, nothing will ever improve until we replace our broken two party system with a modern multiparty democracy
… and you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to fuck that up
If there’s one lesson the DNC should learn it’s this.
They won’t. But they should.
Body knows the problem. Everywhere you see they went to far left not left enough. Everyone has their opinion and nobody knows why this happened. I just know if single issue voters on gaze didn’t vote then they get what they deserve.
Why learn anything, the policies they want will be implemented anyway 🧠
Such a fucking stupid take.
They only learn what they want to hear.
the party can’t fail it can only be failed
It literally doesn’t matter if all you have to do is lie and promise everything.
Stupid article.
I mean that’s basically what Obama did. It’s what Trump does. If you promise 100% and only give 30% you’ll be remembered as a good or good ish president. 60%+ and you’re the greatest president of all time. But when you promise -10% you’re just not gonna win.
Hell, just imagine if Democrats hadn’t let the parliamentarian stand in their way on the minimum wage. Just that by itself would have made it a lot harder for Republicans to claim that Democrats don’t give a shit if their voters can pay for food.
Sinema’s thumbs down remains Democrats’ last word on the subject. And it’s not like she was the lone obstructionist in the party. She was one of EIGHT Democrats who voted against raising the minimum wage.
that parliamentarian is just too darn powerful. We’ll never be able to beat them.
Clearly had a mandate from the people, what with being an appointed position that no one voted on. In a democracy, that always beats those we get to vote on.
she tried to win over moderates, not republicans.
I’d say it worked judging by the 70 million votes or so she got.
The real problem seems to be dem voter turnout instead, for whatever collection of reasons that is. I would argue it’s mostly voters being stupid, but that’s just me lol.
Today we learned, there are no moderates
there are moderates, politically, the problem is that the political environment is so heavily galvanized they don’t really show up clearly.
Most conservative moderates are either going to vote trump (in which case they aren’t that much of a moderate) or they’re not, and they’re going to vote for dems, (which is more moderate)
The problem at hand is that moderates just don’t get any political attention, even though they’re like 30-40% of the voter base, if not more.
I’d say it worked
The election results say otherwise.
losing sure, but biden had historically high voter turnout, probably as a result of the mail in voting over covid.
This turn out is pretty high as well we’re looking at about 71 million votes right now. For an “unpopular candidate” this is pretty clearly, good turnout.
I highly suspect this is because there was no Democratic Primary. I’ve heard the old tired excuse “they typically run the incumbent as the democratic candidate”. But this is simply asinine, it’s crazy. They waited until less than 6 months from election day to randomly put Harris in the running. This is one of the most insane things I’ve ever seen happen. There was no chance for Democrats to vote at all!
Les than 6mo? I don’t even want the election cycle THAT long.
For some stupid reason the presidential election cycle is about 18 months, so 6 months is fast even if it should be plenty.
In 2016, Democrats didn’t vote for Hillary because she just didn’t “do it” for them. We got Trump thanks to their adorable little protest vote.
2024 14 million registered Democrats didn’t vote in this election because Harris just didn’t “do it” for them. But since they HAD registered, they were prepared to vote.
I’m starting to detect a really stupid, petty pattern, here.
Dems said to the left. “We offer you nothing and you owe us everything”.
Why are they surprised their entitled demand failed?
you owe them everything? You owe them a vote bro. It’s not that deep.
If I owe them a vote, they owe me some policies.
yeah, and those polices weren’t global tariffs, deleting the DOE, and fucking over most of the federal government.
That sounds like they were offering the status quo. I.e nothing as nothing would change.
I am dissatisfied with that deal.
Sorry dems, but you only get nothing for nothing.
I am dissatisfied with that deal.
and you prefer a second trump deal?
Like you can pretend like you aren’t satisfied here, but you’re being presented with a would you rather of, would you rather cut your arm a little bit, or stick a needle into your eye. And you sit there and go “yeah no i dont think i want any of these options” except you forgot to read the fine print where the second option is the default result.
I’m dissatisfied with either. One actively repels me but the other isn’t appealing either.
Neither is th default here because neither is the incumbent, though Kamala is closer.
So if neither is asking for my vote or bringing anything i want, why would I show up?
Blame me if you like, but the truth is they failed because they were not appealing enough. And that’s simply all there is to it.
Guess you didn’t listen either, since you thought they offer you nothing
I’d wait to hear what they offer me that I’m concerned with that they couldn’t have done already. They demonstrated they didn’t want my vote.
Let me rephrase that a way you can understand.
If things were as dire as they wanted us to believe, why were they ignoring us and brining on Liz and dick Cheney?
Why did they ignore us whenever we asked for something? Because they believed they had our vote no matter what.
I don’t want to sign off on another genocide.
You keep blaming the voters for deciding the Democrats aren’t representative of them.
Have you thought about blaming the Democrats for not being representative of the voters they want?
people keep saying this, but she got like 65 or 70 million votes?? Seems representative to me.
Not representative enough.
not as representative as trump either apparently.
The far left is definitely in no ways representative of the average democratic voter either.
You can blame both, honestly. The US has always had the same political game as ever, people should be wise enough to understand how to play it. If you ever want to get to a more stable democracy that no longer has the stupid two party system that prevents any form of real representative democracy where you can actually have a selection of parties that represent you perfectly, the choice should be obvious.
At least with Harris they could try to work with her and convince them to change their views for the future as they ruled. Trump will call you a left wing lunatic and slam the door in your face. Zero influence and no chance for progress (and even regression) vs some influence and some chance to progress.
Are you saying its common sense to vote Kamala because she would help dismantle the two party system?
Not that optimistically (And realistically, not common sense either apparently), but yes, it’s a potential path. And a peaceful one, among a multitude of bloody ones.
I wish I had the same blind faith as you but I need some sign they will go against the corporations that are currently running the working class into the ground for profit.
Not sure why you think I have blind faith? I’ve got blind faith in no one. Least of all the american voter lol.
2024 14 million registered Democrats didn’t vote in this election because Harris just didn’t “do it” for them. But since they HAD registered, they were prepared to vote.
As an outsider, if the democratic candidate has to do anything to “appeal to you” for your vote, to prevent a fascist party from taking over, then democracy is obviously not for you. That’s just being a fucking dumb moron. “You didn’t ask nicely enough, so let’s hand over the country to the Nazis”
If you’re a politician who doesn’t appeal to your base then democracy is not for you. That’s just how democracy works.
This mentality is what the Dems keep applying and it doesn’t work. Trying to shame people into voting isn’t an effective message. You can argue that it should be, but what matters is how things actually are and how a party can act most effectively based on that. It’s either adapt or keep railing against reality and lose.
they aren’t “shaming” people. They’re expecting them to do the bare minimum. That’s pretty commendable i would say.
Alright, well “expecting them to do the bare minimum” isn’t a winning strategy either. Expecting people to do things they’ve demonstrated they won’t do doesn’t make any sense.
well if you don’t consider upholding the values of the people within the government structure worth voting for, than maybe democracy isn’t the thing for you.
That’s completely upside down. Democracy means the people within the government structure are supposed to uphold the values of the broader population. If you think the people in the government structure should be the ones to set the values, then maybe democracy isn’t for you.
i mean sure, if you thought i was defining democracy, that’s one of the ways you can define it.
I was just making the argument that you shouldn’t give a fuck at all if you don’t even care to uphold the values of such democracy, yourself.
Also if we’re being semantically pedantic here, a democracy is technically just a form of collective enrollment in governance. The people collectively as a unit decide who best represents their values, and then they elect that person to a position they see fit for those values.
fun fact, we call people who are represented by politicians, constituents.
Or, maybe it’s the fault of the campaign for doing nothing to appeal to those people. Like, I wish that we could of voted to not have trump today. But we didn’t and have shown historically that it won’t happen. At that point it’s on the campaign. Spent the whole time trying to become the new Republican party and it backfired. Fucking stupid DNC don’t learn shit and still bitch at the end.
it’s not the “new republican party” i dont know why people keep saying this, nobody seems to understand ANYTHING about politics and it’s starting to annoy me lmao.
How would you describe the Democrats immigration policy as of this year? Because they voted yes literally on a Republican immigration bill. They continued to champion that “hard border” bill throughout the election. The concept of a hard border was a Republican one that the Dems took and now the Republicans have gone to ethnic cleansing.
"Don’t know anything about politics when you dont even got a 4 year memory. Remember the border wall? Dems are pro border wall now. Israel committing a genocide? Dems are on isreals side, the Republicans are just even more blood thirsty.
Please. I don’t know how to not be pedantic when I say this. Please go read up on the Democrats policy proposals from previous elections and compare to now. Check it against Republicans. Please I beg of you to read.
To top it all off, the Dems are a neo liberal org. A ideology that became popular in the US from Ronald fucking Regan. They are at their core an ideologically right wing org with a left wing base they hate and occasionally have to give concessions on.
No better example of this than the fact they literally championed how many Republicans they were getting endorsements from, campaigned with Liz Cheney, and talked about how lethal our fucking army is while decrying the evil college students for protesting a genocide.
Like. Idk what else to tell you. Idk what else I could show you. This is the reality you live in. The Dems concede to the left or they die to fascists. The left doesn’t have its own party and yet it’s the base of the Dems by virtue of no other option. That base has made it as clear as physically possible. Concede or die. That’s politics baby.
How would you describe the Democrats immigration policy as of this year? Because they voted yes literally on a Republican immigration bill. They continued to champion that “hard border” bill throughout the election. The concept of a hard border was a Republican one that the Dems took and now the Republicans have gone to ethnic cleansing.
to be clear the “hard border bill” you’re talking about isn’t that hard. The two primary things it did were increase funding to the border patrol, ICE and the immigration judges. The primary issue at hand is twofold, massive influx of immigration to an unprecedented level. And the lack of infrastructure to handle it. When people come to america to claim asylum, they are by law, required to have an asylum trial. There are currently not enough judges to hold all of the trials that need to happen, thus people end up with multi year court dates, and stays in sanctuary cities. Some of these people will get through and become citizens, some of them wont, but for now, they’re under temporary status citizenship.
If you consider “funding the courts so people can get citizenship” to be a hard border bill, i question what a relaxed border policy for you would be.
Now to be fully transparent here, it does also constitute shutting down the border if more than 5000 migrants pass through in one day. Doesn’t require it, just allows for it to happen. There are arguments around this being unethical or even illegal immigration law. but a temporary shutdown likely beats the current mess we have right now (surrounding wait dates and what not)
If you’re talking about HR2, than that’s not a dem bill. Idk why we’re talking about it.
Dems are pro border wall now.
some of them are, but this is probably due to republican and conservative propaganda, they understand nothing about the border either.
Dems are on isreals side
do you have any stats on this? I recall seeing that support for israel is mostly in the older population. And republican leaning, as far as popular sentiment goes, it seems the majority of people agree that israel is probably being too aggressive and that we should do something about it. Unless your minimum buy in here is genocide in which case this is an untenable conversation and i can’t go any further.
Please go read up on the Democrats policy proposals from previous elections and compare to now.
i mean if we’re talking about the obama admin, they did a shit ton of deportation and bombing of the middle east. Idk what that’s worth to you. But it’s one of the admins of all time so. Policy proposal is a moot point anyway, so i won’t engage on those grounds.
A ideology that became popular in the US from Ronald fucking Regan. They are at their core an ideologically right wing org with a left wing base they hate and occasionally have to give concessions on.
i’m unsure what you mean by this, but it is my understanding that most of the US voting base in the dem party is moderate or generally liberal (soft left). And that a minority of it is left leaning (moderate left), or far left (hard left). Lemmy is a good example of the far left. And voter turnout seems to agree with this, considering that like 70 million people turned out to vote for kamala. If the majority of the population were as principled as people on lemmy i would expect maybe 50 million.
while decrying the evil college students
do you have an actual example of this? I know that trump has said that he would deport them, but i havent heard the harris campaign say anything of that nature yet.
The Dems concede to the left or they die to fascists.
i really don’t think it needs to. Maybe i’m wrong, but everything i understand about politics and sociology leads me to believe otherwise.
it is in fact politics, i will give you that one. Now if only the voting population was more capable of doing literally anything smarter than being ok at guessing sometimes…
The Republicans had their little tea party a few years ago. The Democrats need a Guillotine Party to properly represent us.
The Tea Party forced the GOP to rebrand and restructure itself around the most extreme right wing ideas possible
Occupy Wallstreet tried to do the same thing, and… were savagely beaten by the police over it.
The police choose who they will protect and who they will serve.
the police have no choice. They are owned by the billionaire and exist to protect wealth and privilege.
This is similar to how someone will slowly abandon their old friends to be relevant with the “cool” kids who will never see you as part of their group no matter what, and your old friends end up making new friends leaving you alone. If this doesn’t work in real life, I don’t get how this could work in politics.
The Democratic party has to stop treating us like the old friend they visit every so often just to get something out of us while forming closer relationships with others who have no business being their friend.
This is so true and I’m saying this a white guy who has only felt the economic impact of their failures. I was a radical leftist when I was 15, now I’m 40. The only thing democrats have ever offered is damage control, they can’t blame the voters for being apathetic.
Yes. When you abandon the left, they don’t vote for you. This is what Clinton did too
The funny thing is that Harris had a lot of progressive policies. She didn’t tout them for some reason. Which I suspect was to get GOPers on board. Have a look here and wonder why she didn’t talk more about them: https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/sep/30/kamala-harris-2024-campaign-promises-here-are-her/
They have clearly internalized the pervasive trope that leftists will vote for them, because they have no other choice, so the only thing that matters to convince is the right. Looks like they calculated wrong.
Why do people keep saying Democrats. These were not Democrats. They were political apathetics who were so dumb they didn’t see a difference between an existential threat to America, convicted felon, and pathological liar… And a woman with a clean record.
No actual Democrat gave up voting for Harris because of the obvious reach to Republicans who saw that existential threat.
They gave up because of disinformation silos and the economy, stupid
a woman with a clean record
People died in her prisons and she kept some after their term so she could use them as slave labor to put out wildfires
and she supported genocide while promising it would continue under her, not for nothing
Lmfao.
Talk about pure bullshit. People die in every prison everywhere. Maybe you should take a step back in time and look who drafted those laws in the first place.
Well have fun with the 100% support of genocide with Trump, buddy. I’m sure they’ll treat your little protests with kid gloves lol. While she was seeking a permanent ceasefire, Trump was undermining it and telling Bibi to finish the job hahah.
That’s not to mention what blood is on one’s hands for Ukraine, too.
Why are you speaking like you’re upset with the outcome of the election if you’re a republican?
I’m sure they’ll treat your little protests with kid gloves lol.
Another ‘liberal’ takes their mask off
lol nah man, I’m sure Palestinians will be much better off under Trump and far more amicable to protesters than Harris would’ve been… Totally ;)
Pat yourself on the back for this MuH BoTh SiDeS narrative!
See you in 4 years when you emptily vote for Jill Stein again.
No one looks as happy about the outcome of the election as you
Glad you’re having fun scolding the people you told to shut the fuck up for the last 4 years for not doing as they’re told
Really. You think I’m happy about this? That the Both Sides crowd can’t understand basic mathematics and spoiler effect, or zero-sum logic?
As far as I’m concerned I’m far more distraught and less willing to throw away civilian lives in Gaza and Ukraine than the likes of you. There’s a lot of naivety going around thinking that things can’t possibly get worse in both of these places for civilians.
Let’s see how that logic plays out.
That the Both Sides crowd can’t understand basic mathematics and spoiler effect, or zero-sum logic?
You are fundamentally failing to understand their position if you think these things are valid contradictions to them.
As far as I’m concerned I’m far more distraught and less willing to throw away civilian lives in Gaza and Ukraine than the likes of you.
These are two VERY different situations that can’t be lumped together like that. And honestly god damn you to hell for wrapping yourself in that cloak. Especially considering the situation in Ukraine that your side has deliberately turned into a ‘second Afghanistan’ with zero interest in the lives of the civilians who have to live in war. The cynicism is disgusting. That blood is on your hands. If Trump ends that war it’s objectively a good thing.
And holy shit I’m getting sick of telling you sociopathic lying fucking liberals off for pretending there’s any room to be worse when it comes to Gaza. There has been zero restraint put on the nazi regime there. Democrats have tripped over themselves to send aid package after aid package.
It is the most intellectually dishonest thing you could fucking say. Shame on you.
So left wing Democrats responded by sitting on their hands instead of voting, knowingly allowing the country to slide into whatever authoritarian hellhole that awaits us? Now that’s the definition of pettiness.
We kept trying to warn you.
And every time - every last fucking time - anyone told you that moving to the right was going to cause people to stay home, you lot shot the messenger. Every time someone screamed the writing on the wall out loud, centrists who were so happy that the party was finally embracing genocide and Cheney were like “Russian! Tankie! Trumpist!”
I voted for Harris. You’ll blame me anyway. Democrats will always shoot the messenger and double down on their simping for fascists.
Every time someone screamed the writing on the wall out loud, centrists who were so happy that the party was finally embracing genocide and Cheney were like “Russian! Tankie! Trumpist!”
Edit: the downvotes prove my point hah
Yep. Sorry you got shit on for being right. I don’t think I’ve ever downvoted you.
I’m used to it by now. You should have seen me on Twitter during the 2016/2020 campaigns. It was rough!
I seriously doubt left wingers were the difference in this election. I doubt there are significant enough numbers of far left people in Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin for it to have made any real difference.
I seriously doubt left wingers were the difference in this election
You’d be seriously wrong then. Even as of 2021 progressives were 8% of all voters. It will be even higher now.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/11/09/progressive-left/
Thats 15-20% of the democratic party. The dems cant win any election without them, and have no hope of replacing them with republicans or independents-- regardless of how much funding AIPAC tries to bribe you with.
Yes, my friend was one of them. I was shocked when 2 weeks before election he told me he was planning on not voting.
I asked why and he cited holding the same position Isreal as Biden, and courting republicans like Cheney, saying that was not a good look for the party at all.
I told him it’s not ideal, but we need to vote to keep Trump out…. Sometimes we just have to be pragmatic.
He responded saying it’s the Dem establishment that keeps allowing a boogey man like Trump to rise so they can shove center right corporatists down our throats. He said he was abstaining from voting to send a message to the DNC, and followed it up with, “we survived a first Trump term, I’m sure we can survive a second.”
I asked why and he cited holding the same position Isreal as Biden, and courting republicans like Cheney, saying that was not a good look for the party at all.
I told him it’s not ideal
And this is what you don’t get. There’s a huge fucking gap between “not ideal” and “supporting genocide to the point that Dick Cheney likes you.” And you didn’t acknowledge it. You just belittled it with “not ideal.” Because you couldn’t admit that what Democrats were doing was monstrous and unconscionable.
Anyone who pulls this “you didn’t get 100% of everything you want, but…” shit? They got 100% of everything they wanted. Especially the genocide support. And especially Cheney.
So the thought is that Trump will stop the genocide.
The thought is that running to the right failed. The thought is that Harris should have listened to criticism.
We tried to warn you what would happen, and every last time, we got this insipid unthinking “you say something me not want hear! Me accuse you of being trumper! Me very smart!” shit. You have learned absolutely nothing from 2016 and 2024.
In 2028, if there is an election, let’s hope some of you have learned that treating your base with contempt while simping for Republicans doesn’t work.
Dems have always hated progressives more than the right. And you’re saying “you” a bunch, and I guess you mean neoliberal Democrats or some other people who aren’t me… but anyway.
I’m asking about the strategy of, on election day: “One side is/is moving towards the right, and I don’t like that. To combat that, I’ll allow the most extreme right people into power, with a solid chance of destroying whatever is left of USA’s democracy, while stripping it for parts.”
In a binary system, how does choosing the worse side help you? Did you not learn from Trumps last victory, that sitting on the sideline while fascists take away more and more rights while cementing their power and destroying institutions, doesn’t work?
You just got a great indicator of where the “Let’s do anything we want and as long as we’re second worst, everyone who isn’t a monster has to vote for us!” mindset leads.
But blaming the voters is easier than introspection and adaptation. So lecture away and learn nothing.
I was simply asking the thought process on voting day while agreeing with the majority of your complaints. But you aren’t interested in discussing anything, you just want to throw a fit and feel smug. Carry on then, I’m sure that’s working out for you.
Pretty much, although it’s probably an exaggeration to call them Democrats. In reality most of them are likely unaffiliated with any party. But it was literally Harris’s job to convince them to come out and vote for her and she failed at it. When a candidate loses an election, barring election interference, it’s their fault. Harris fucked us all by running as a diet Republican. Odds are anyone in here reading this did everything we could to hand her the win, but she pissed it all away by trying to steal votes from the Republicans instead of convincing people that they needed to get off their asses and come vote for her.
Dude, she had like 100 days to put together a campaign. She had to make a gamble and trust that the 2020 Dem voters were already in her corner so she could go after some big fish with the little time she had.
left leaning republicans arent “big fish”. They are bottom of the barrel dregs, and going after them has been tried repeatedly and it never works. And she knew she was losing the left the whole time she pivoted to the right. She can read the polls same as we can.
Dude, lets be real. The only reason the DNC pushed Biden out of the way was because polling numbers said the incumbent advantage (and his policies) weren’t going to be enough to win it for him. So Kamala comes out of the gate with a boost (because she’s not Joe) and promptly proclaims she can’t name a single policy decision she would have made differently than Biden. That’s not winning undecided voters from either side.
and promptly proclaims she can’t name a single policy decision she would have made differently than Biden.
Literally not true. Were you just not paying attention?
Shortly after becoming candidate, she was asked in an interview if she could think of anything she would have done different than Biden. She replied:
“There is not a thing that comes to mind… and I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact, the work that we have done,”
I voted for Harris but I think that was a monumental fuckup.
True, and she never said anything else after that…
Ok… But that’s not what we are talking about is it? You said the statement ‘and promptly proclaims she can’t name a single policy decision she would have made differently than Biden.’ was “Literally not true”. But it literally is.
I don’t have the time nor the want to unpack the rest of this clusterfuck campaign.
Literally not true. Were you just not paying attention?
Now you’re flat out lying and being insulting about it. Blocked.
