The presidency of America, which is a major player in the world economy and the most important actor in international politics, will soon change hands. It is clear that this important change will affect all world politics. The Assad regime in Syria has already fallen before Trump has even taken office. We have previously analyzed how Donald won the election in our article. Now, less than 2 months have passed since the November 5 US Elections, we will analyze why Kamala Harris lost the election.
In this context, heavyweights of the Democratic Party such as Bernie Sanders have already begun to criticize the party. As a result of this situation, which is called the Democrats’ blame game, it is clear that this party needs to face the facts. In this period when American society is more polarized than ever before in history, it is very important for both mainstream political views to consider the election results with common sense.
If you recall, we listed many factors for Kamala’s loss, especially Biden’s very late withdrawal from the presidential race. International political commentators, especially Fox News and CNN International, have reported extensively on this issue as a media outlet. At this point, while some time has passed since the election, it is important for the future to find the reasons for the heavy defeat suffered by the Democrats.
As a result, the elections resulted in a very heavy defeat and for at least 4 years, the Republican Party will completely hold the seats in Congress and the presidency, including the House of Representatives and the Senate. Two famous Harvard professors wrote about the possible effects of this on democracy globally in the book How Democracies Die years ago.
Why Shouldn’t Harris Lose?
Before we get into the subject, we would like to share a question that Harvard Poll asked voters after the election. In the exit poll, voters were asked, “Which of the following two options would you base your vote on?” 80 percent of the voters said, “I base my decision on the candidate’s position on the issues and topics,” while only 20 percent said, “I base my vote on the candidate’s personal characteristics and character.”
In fact, the subject has perhaps been completely clarified now. If we were to end the article here, perhaps we would have sufficiently answered the question of why Kamala Harris lost. After all, the Democratic Party campaign team had designed almost the entire election strategy according to Trump’s personal characteristics and character, to which voters only gave 20 percent importance. In this context, perhaps the only thing they promised was the perception or fear of “We are better than D. Trump, if we are not elected, he will come!” Perhaps the strongest and first reason for the loss was positioning the campaign and perspective incorrectly from the very beginning.
On the other hand, many other big and small mistakes, have led to the loss of the election and all the parliaments along with the popular vote.
If we list the most important of these mistakes:
- The Democrats’ mistake of looking down on the people,
- Putting the sins of the current president on Kamala’s back,
- Making policy changes to focus on right-wing votes instead of left-wing votes,
- Failure to get Latin, Black and female voters to the ballot box,
- Not having a healthy primary process,
- The J.F. Kennedy Jr. factor!
Why Kamala Harris Lost?
Kamala Harris’s problems communicating with voters and her problems in inspiring trust in society are now a fact that everyone accepts. In this sense, when she was asked “What will you change about the current administration’s policies if you are elected?” during a live broadcast on ABC just before the election, she replied “I can’t think of anything.”, implying that she would change almost nothing. Remember, in elections held during a period of high inflation, voters always side with “change” and take a stand against the current status quo. At this point, Harris’s statement was considered a blunder.
Here are some other blunders that Kamala made that cost her points:
- Although she didn’t say it, Biden described Republicans as “deplorable”,
- Harris described the other side as garbage, or “garbage”,
- She appealed to undecided right-wing voters, whom she saw as in the gray area, rather than her own voters.
Everyone already knows that the economy and inflation are serious problems. On the other hand, issues such as the Inflation Reduction Act, the failed healthcare reform and climate crisis were also decisive in the Democrats’ defeat, especially in terms of their own voters.
In addition, the strategy of winning votes from right-wing voters who did not like Trump has completely collapsed. As a result of this strategy, the participation rate of Latino and black voters, who are seen as the Democrats’ vote, as well as women voters, has decreased. This is also an important reason for the defeat. The fact that Biden withdrew his candidacy late and that there were almost 100 days left until the election was also decisive in why Kamala Harris lost. If the Democrats had held a healthy primary at that time and determined another candidate, the election result could have been different.
Obama and Blame Game
Kennedy Jr., who entered the elections as an independent candidate and waited for a while for the Democratic Party to approach him, later decided to support him upon Trump’s invitation. When asked why Harris lost, it was initially seen as a small percentage, but this situation caused the voters to exhibit a resentful attitude. After all, losing to the other party a representative of a family that has a very important place in the Democratic tradition angered his own voters. In addition, meeting with celebrities rather than the public during the election process and receiving their support created a negative judgment in the public, contrary to expectations.
As a result of all these, the election was lost. Afterwards, a serious blame game began within the Democratic Party. Almost all-important names, especially former President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, one of the party’s big guns, made statements. At this point, shortly after the election, the Obama team tried to blame Biden’s late withdrawal and the current president for the election defeat. Pelosi also addressed Bernie Sanders, a prominent Democrat and a major candidate in the Democratic primary in the 2020 presidential election, saying, “I love him, but I disagree with his words that why Kamala Harris lost the American middle working class. Kamala Harris could have won, but she should have stood much stronger and presented a stronger image.” As we can understand from these, the Democratic Party is in a serious internal reckoning as we enter 2025 and the MAGA era.
The decisions of these party representatives, who are already discussing who the 2028 candidates should be, will affect world politics, especially in America, in the future.
