A great debate is underway over what went wrong for Democrats in the 2024 presidential election with Kamala Harris’ devastating loss to Donald Trump, but new polling shows what voters think was behind her dramatic failure to win the White House.
The polling exclusively conducted by J.L. Partners for DailyMail.com asked voters to share in a few words what they think was the main reason the Trump won and the vice president lost.
The poll found many voters pointed to the economy as one of the top reasons why Harris lost, but another main one according to voters was because she is a woman.
The poll conducted between November 29 and December 1 asked more than 1,000 voters to weigh in.
Other words that voters used discussing Trump’s win and Harris’ loss were Biden, tired, immigration, hate, change, racist and incompetent.
The poll also separated the question between Trump voters and Harris voters which showed a stunning split in how they answered.
When it came to Harris voters alone, many blamed the results simply on the fact the vice president is a woman.
It was the top word they used to the answer the question, somewhat reminiscent of when Hillary Clinton ran and lost to Trump in 2016.
Vice President Kamala Harris giving her concession speech on November 6 after losing the presidential election to Donald Trump
Poll by J.L. Partners for DailyMail.com asked registered voters to share in a few words what they thought was the main reason that Donald Trump won the election and Kamala Harris lost
Harris was only the second woman and first woman of color to be a major party presidential nominee.
Other Harris voters blamed the results on Trump’s ‘lies’ and claimed it was because Americans are ‘stupid.’
Some listed the economy and argued it had to do with racism.
Biden was also among the responses as well as the word ‘time’ as Harris had just 107 days to mount her presidential campaign after the president dropped out of the race in July.
When it came to Trump voters and why they think Trump won and Harris lost, the top answers were less clear.
Some pointed to the economy. The word ‘tired’ was also mentioned as well as experience, policies and inflation.
The word ‘woman’ was used but by way fewer voters.
‘Incompetent’ and ‘idiot’ were also among their more prominent reasons.
Harris voters when asked to share in a few words why they think Trump won the election and Harris lost, according to a poll conducted for DailyMail.com
Trump voters when asked to share a few words on why Trump won the presidential election and Harris lost, according to a poll conducted for DailyMail.com
Democrats are looking to regroup after Republicans won the White House, flipped the Senate and were able to hold their House majority by a slim margin.
Across the country including in some blue areas, voters shifted further to the right delivering Trump not just all seven battleground states but also the popular vote for the first time.
In the weeks since the election, there has been a lot of finger pointing in multiple directions and questions over how Harris’ short campaign was able to raise and then blow through more than $1 billion only to lose.
Some strategists have attributed the results to the president being unwilling to drop out of the race sooner as Biden was also among those blamed by voters in the poll.
Others have questioned the messaging from Democrats and how it was delivered as well as Harris’ failure to set herself further apart from the Biden administration. Some have even questioned who the vice president picked as her running mate.
Harris with President Biden campaigning in Philadelphia on May 29 before he dropped out of the race
Running mate Governor Tim Walz with wife Gwen at Harris’ concession speech in Washington, DC after she lost the 2024 presidential election to Trump
That running mate Governor Tim Walz gave his first one-on-one interviews since the election loss on Thursday where he reflected on what was to blame.
He said there probably were things they could have done differently but argued there were complexities as to why the country shifted further red.
‘We’re going to have to figure out, are we communicating? I think we’re communicating the right way, but are we communicating in the right spaces? Are we communicating to where people are at and where they’re listening to?’ Walz said of Democrats.
Members of Harris campaign team also weighed in but placed the blame elsewhere rather than on themselves or their candidate.
Senior adviser David Plouffe claimed the campaign was dealing with ‘ferocious headwinds’ during a recent podcast in which campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon complained about the lack of time.
