Note: The views shared in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the individual opinions of the other members of The City Voice.
Political tensions have been high for the past few months, with massive, unorthodox changes occurring during the race for the presidency in 2024. Trump, the 46th US President, came again to run against current President Joe Biden in the early campaigns. However, America was shocked when Biden stepped down from the campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. A new, buzzing energy filled the nation as a new, younger candidate would race against former president Donald Trump. Promises of policies, a few headlines and controversies, and an eventful presidential debate ensued as Harris and Trump vigorously battled for the presidency. The race was projected to be very tight, but many models and people such as Professor Lichtman, who had a 90% success rate of calling the winner of the election (before this election), believed that Harris would win. So when November 5th rolled around and millions of Americans voted and stayed up for the results, it was a shock when Trump won the 2024 election.
The surprising fact is that it was not even close. The election was called very early on November 6th when Trump scored the final key race in Wisconsin. In the end, Trump obtained 312 electoral votes versus Harris’ 226.
So, how did Trump win? Here are a few key reasons:
Wicked Campaigning: Winning the Key Races
There were seven battleground states in the 2024 election: Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada. These seven states were crucial areas to campaign in. Winning any of these states could determine if a candidate could win the election. All the votes in the battleground states would account for 93 electoral votes. So when Trump swept the votes from all these states, he won the election with 312 electoral votes, coming from the red states and all the swing states. In 2020, Biden won six of the seven swing states, gaining 306 votes, so winning all seven was an impressive feat for Trump.
Both candidates campaigned vigorously in these states. Specifically in Michigan, Harris appeared in Grand Rapids (at our very own Riverside Park) and in Detroit during the recent months. Trump held a rally in downtown Grand Rapids during the presidential race too. Rallies and speeches like this were an integral part of both candidates’ campaigns. While both candidates robustly campaigned in these swing states, Trump succeeded in bringing out just a few more Republican voters. Margins were slim, however, with a one to two percent marginal difference between the votes for Trump and Harris in all the swing states, but this was enough to gain all the electoral votes from each state.
The country has not been so divided in a long time. Even if Trump won these states by a small margin, he still collected all 93 battleground electoral votes, ensuring a strong victory against Kamala Harris.
National Apathy Toward Biden’s Presidency
Nationally, the Biden administration was not favored. This played a crucial role in Trump’s favorability. Statistically in exit polls, only about 40% of Americans approved of the Biden Administration. About two-thirds rated the economy during Biden’s presidency negatively. Inflation rates have been at an all-time high, with many Americans struggling with their cost of living, housing prices, and other goods. So it is not a surprise that many Americans are unhappy with their financial situation and the national economy at the moment. The Biden presidency operated during the aftermath of the pandemic, so these consequences were bound to ensue. Nevertheless, voters now suggested they trust Trump more with not just the economy, but also immigration, crime, and foreign policy.
The tax cuts proposed by Trump are favored among Americans dissatisfied with the economy. The tax cuts would provide short-term relief to millions of Americans in the nation, thus making Trump a strong candidate for them. Additionally, the Republican party seems frustrated with the lack of border control from the Biden administration (or perhaps less border control than the former president). Trump had used the notion that illegal immigration had increased under Biden’s presidency to campaign for the Republicans.
The media and Trump himself had also portrayed Biden in a bad light. Specifically, the Biden vs. Trump 2024 presidential debate was a disaster for the democratic candidate Biden. Trump had looked stronger in that debate according to national polls, with Trump called Biden “Sleepy Joe”. This aided in skewing the American perception of Biden. Trump had succeeded in making thousands of Americans view the Biden Administration in a bad light.
An interesting note was the shift of Latino voters toward Donald Trump. This was counterintuitive at first as the Trump campaign was, in fact, viewed as a racist one. Also, the mass deportations and border control Trump plans to enact would seem to drive away Hispanic voters. Nevertheless, 46% of Latinos voted for Trump, the highest for a Republican candidate. This is because many Latino voters did not favor the Biden administration as well due to the increasing inflation rates, entrusting the economy to Donald Trump instead.
Since Harris was the vice president under Joe Biden, it was a bit difficult for her to distinguish herself from the Biden campaign. Hence, many Americans still viewed the race as Trump vs. the Biden Administration. With the numerous negative views of the Biden Administration, Donald Trump was bound to win on November 5th, 2024.
Americans Are Afraid of the Growing World
Whether the nation wants to admit it or not, America is falling behind on the international scale. While there are many nations with better components than America, the increasing tensions between the superpower country China and America have become a big topic of contention. China is becoming increasingly prevalent in the international community, trading freely with 120 countries. Also, it is projected that China could overtake the American GDP in 2035 assuming that China would have a 5% annual increase in their GDP. China’s military defense capabilities are also neck to neck with the US according to the Global Firepower Index. China’s increasing technological advancements (the EV industry worth mentioning) are growing rapidly and can compete and sometimes even excel compared to US goods.
With China gaining so much power, Americans are afraid.
While both candidates Harris and Trump proposed winning the race with China, Trump imposed harsh measures to ensure American success. He noted added large tariffs toward international goods. Trump is an avid supporter of protectionism, which would allow for more American goods and jobs to flow. However, the issue of inflation would not benefit from protectionism at all, as significant labor costs and US goods are more expensive. Americans do not see this fact, however, and are concerned with keeping the US as the number one superpower. Tariffs and protectionism endorsed by Donald Trump resulted in these Americans voting for him.
The “Trump Character” – Creating a Reputation for Himself
There were interesting characters as our US Presidents before. Teddy Roosevelt holds the infamous story for refusing to shoot a bear. Richard Nixon was known for promoting far-right ideals. Trump has also succeeded in creating this ‘iconic persona’ for himself. Trump has made a few controversial claims during his campaign. One example claiming that Kamala Harris wasn’t really ‘black.’ Trump also claimed that all the Haitians in Springfield are ‘eating the cats’ and ‘eating the dogs.’ These headlines have drawn lots of nationwide attention to the man. While many Americans think differently of Trump because of these headlines, they succeeded nonetheless in attracting attention to the campaign. The more attention to his campaign, the more potential voters Trump attracts.
Trump is also the first convicted felon to become president. He is also a president who survived an assassination attempt, the wound on his ear a symbol of the Trump campaign moving forward. Additionally, Trump had succeeded in connecting with the rural, white male American demographic. Those that Trump is trying to campaign truly relate to Trump’s ideals.
Hence, Trump’s attention-grabbing actions claims, unorthodox characteristics, and relatability with certain demographics helped the former president to win the election.
Misogyny and Racism: We Are Not as Progressive as We Thought
This election was a white man versus a colored woman. No matter the status, education, or experience, a white man in America will always be nationally favored compared to a colored woman. This may change in later years, but for now, the fact that Harris was a colored woman hurt her chances to become the 48th POTUS.
Kamala Harris had won 53% of women voters during this round. She also won many colored votes. However, the Latino votes (as stated before), white women, and women without college degrees voted skewed toward Donald Trump. Although Kamala won the vote of colored women, voting polls show that many populations that would be projected to align with Harris actually favored Trump.
The abortion topic had helped Harris in her campaign, as she agreed with letting a woman decide on what to do with her body. Trump supported the Roe v. Wade overturn and was leaning more toward abortion regulation or even bans. With this topic, abortion would seem to be a panacea for Harris’s success. However, Trump had still won the 2024 election, and many women lent their votes to him.
The correlation between Harris winning many colored women’s votes and losing all the other demographics compared to Biden’s standings with these demographics shows that America is not as progressive as we thought. More Americans voted for Biden in 2020 and not for Harris in 2024, even though they have similar policies. It can be inferred that Biden’s gender and race was more favorable to the country.
Hillary Clinton had already made history, winning the popular vote in 2016. Since, a loss is a loss, and Harris’s loss marks the second loss a woman candidate had. Also, Obama was the only colored president, and in a time of increasing hate crimes and racial animosity, the probability of a colored person winning was slim.
America has already made progress to improve social justice and reduce misogyny and racism, but it may be a long time until America is ready for a woman, or a colored woman.
Conclusion: A Tense Political Era
After the election, some are elated, and some are disappointed, or even scared. It is important to remember, however, that America’s political landscape will shift from the Democrats to Republicans continuously. As of now, the Republicans have control of the Senate and have a strong prevalence in the House. This is susceptible to change though in future years.
Also, it is important to remember that the nation is as divided as ever. While the election was not as tight, the popular vote was. Half of the nation is democratic or republican, so checks and balances will have to ensue. The USA was built upon compromise and agreement, and history repeats itself so this will continue.
The beautiful fact is that America is the land of free will and is a country for the people. The country serves to respect the voice of the people and will continue to do so, no matter who is in office.
Works Cited
Kapur, Sahil. “5 Takeaways from the 2024 Election Race as Trump Wins against Harris.” NBC News, NBCUniversal Media, 6 Nov. 2024, http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/takeaways-trump-win-harris-election-2024-president-race-rcna177675. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
Montanaro, Domenico. “Why Trump Won — 9 Takeaways from the 2024 Election.” NPR, 8 Nov. 2024, http://www.npr.org/2024/11/08/g-s1-33274/2024-election-how-trump-won-takeaways. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
Nawaz, Amna. “Harris Loss Causes Some to Question What It Will Take to Elect a Woman President.” PBS News, NewsHour Productions LLC, 8 Nov. 2024, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/harris-loss-causes-some-to-question-what-it-will-take-to-elect-a-woman-president. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
Neufeld, Dorothy. “U.S. Vs. China: Which Country Is the World’s #1 Superpower?” Visual Capitalist, 26 Sept. 2024, http://www.visualcapitalist.com/comparing-the-u-s-and-china-on-eight-measures-of-power/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Robledo, Anthony. ““I Admit I Was Wrong”: Allan Lichtman Explains Why His Election Prediction Failed.” USA TODAY, 8 Nov. 2024, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/07/allan-lichtman-presidential-election-prediction-wrong/76121154007/. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
Sedghi, Amy. “Trump Wins Arizona to Clinch Sweep of Seven Battleground States.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 10 Nov. 2024, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/10/trump-wins-arizona-completing-sweep-of-all-seven-battleground-states-ap-reports. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
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