By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-17 12:48:26 | Updated at 2024-11-23 01:22:41
5 days ago
Of all the embarrassing failures Kamala Harris suffered at the ballot box - including the exodus of Hispanic, black, Asian and young voters - there is perhaps one that torments her the most.
The popular vote, represented in the staggering graphic below, reveals that more than 8 million Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 simply vanished as they refused to back the Democratic candidate in 2024.
Biden secured 81 million votes compared to Harris' 73 million.
Harris supporters may try to dismiss this decline as the result of voter turnout being lower in 2024. But turnout is only projected to be two points lower - 65 percent against 67 percent in 2020.
Harris is ten points down on Biden's numbers (with 97 percent of the total vote counted at the time of writing).
Donald Trump, on the other hand, bumped his numbers by more than a million votes this time around, trouncing Harris by a margin of 3 million.
He became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote for two decades.
Even Hillary Clinton, one of the most unpopular presidential candidates of the last 50 years, managed to defeat Trump on raw votes in 2016.
More than 8 million Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 simply vanished as they refused to back Kamala Harris in 2024. Donald Trump , on the other hand, bumped his numbers by more than a million votes this time around, trouncing Harris by a margin of 3 million. (The above numbers for 2024 are incomplete, with 97 percent of the vote counted at time of production)
How exactly Harris suffered such a catastrophic defeat is still being dissected by political experts.
But the numbers from the popular vote show in the starkest terms that Americans across every demographic rejected her.
Asian, Black, Hispanic and young voters all shifted toward Trump. Asian voters made a 19-point swing to Trump, Hispanic support spiked by 18 points and among black voters by 10 points.
There was a 14-point swing among voters under 30 to Trump - and in utter humiliation for Harris a seven-point boost for the Republican Party among women voters in that age group.
Female voters under 24 were even more opposed to Harris, with Trump gaining 11 points in this demographic compared to 2020.
Trump's huge rally with young women helped secure the largest portion of voters under 30 than any Republican candidate since 2008.
Clinton had a 19-point lead with under-30s when she went up against Trump in 2016, Biden stretched that gap to 25 points - but under Harris, that margin shrunk to just 6 points.
Trump ran an exceptional campaign that focused on the economy and immigration.
Donald Trump dances during a campaign rally at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on October 13
President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with military officials for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on November 11
Thirty-two percent of voters said that the economy was their top concern - and of that number 80 percent backed Trump, according to exit polling by Edison Research.
Another 11 percent of voters said that they cared most about immigration, with Trump earning 90 percent of their vote.
Harris failed to address these issues and her campaign strategy appeared to centered around abortion rights and Trump's 'threat to democracy.'
Only 14 percent of voters said abortion was their top issue - Harris took a 74 percent share of their ballot papers.
Thirty-four percent listed the 'state of democracy' as their top concern - 80 percent of them backed Harris.
