Politics

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | From the January 2025 issue

Few realistic political observers expected a blowout for Kamala Harris. But Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election was far from guaranteed, either. For most of Harris' relatively brief candidacy, she and Trump appeared to be locked in a very tight race. So Harris' incredibly dismal showing was also somewhat unexpected. She came up short in both the Electoral College and the 
popular vote, lost all seven swing states, and lost ground with most demographic groups. Even in reliably Democratic strongholds such as New Jersey and New York, Harris underperformed.

Some people are chalking Harris' loss up to sexism, misogyny, and racism. And no doubt some small segment of voters were motivated by such things, as some people always are. But one needn't imagine a mass hate wave to explain Trump's victory.

In the weeks leading up to the election, candidate Harris struggled to define herself as polls........

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