A leading Democratic polling firm has released a report identifying key factors behind Vice President Kamala Harris’s resounding loss to President-elect Donald Trump, attributing her defeat to an excessive focus on “cultural issues” and her failure to address inflation and border policies.
Trump’s victory on Tuesday was decisive, securing the popular vote and flipping at least four battleground states, a result that shocked many within the Democratic Party.
Blueprint, the polling firm, published a report on Friday outlining the top reasons voters rejected Harris. According to the firm’s findings, the economy, immigration policy, and cultural issues were the primary drivers of Trump’s success.
The Economy
The economy emerged as the top issue for voters, with many choosing Trump over Harris because of his populist message on inflation. The report noted that 25% of voters, including 27% of black voters, cited inflation as their primary concern, with the issue exacerbated under the Biden-Harris administration. Inflation hit its highest levels in decades in the summer of 2022 and remained a persistent problem heading into the 2024 election cycle.
Harris struggled to campaign on the issue, as Trump’s campaign highlighted her prominent role in the administration. “She had failed to address inflation during her 3 1/2 years in the Biden administration,” the report said. Despite Harris’s attempts to present herself as an agent of change, Trump capitalized on her inability to address economic concerns.
“She just started by saying she’s gonna do this, she’s gonna do that, she’s gonna do all these wonderful things — WHY HASN’T SHE DONE IT? She’s been there for 3.5 years!” – @TrumpWarRoom
The Border
Immigration was another key issue, with voters casting their ballots for Trump due to his strong stance on border policy. Concerns over illegal immigration topped the list of issues for 23% of all voters, with the same percentage in battleground states like Pennsylvania. The report cited voters’ agreement with the statement that “too many immigrants illegally crossed the border under the Biden-Harris Administration,” citing a record number of illegal crossings due to the administration’s relaxed border policies.
Trump used Harris’s role as “border czar” to accuse her of failing in her duties to secure the border. “I ask, what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people? That she allowed to pour in. She was the border czar. Remember that,” Trump said during the debate, criticizing her lack of action on immigration reform.
‘GO TO D.C.’: At the ABC News Presidential Debate, Donald Trump challenged Kamala Harris to get President Biden “out of bed” and take action on border security. pic.twitter.com/1yTDD0QOpu — NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX)
Blueprint’s analysis concluded, “This suggests that Harris was weighed down heavily by the Biden administration, particularly by inflation and their track record on immigration.”
Transgender Policy
Voters also expressed dissatisfaction with Harris’s focus on cultural issues, particularly transgender policy, which many believed alienated working-class voters. In swing states, 25% of voters felt Harris was out of touch, focusing more on issues like transgender rights than on addressing the concerns of the middle class. This issue was more important to swing state voters than both economic concerns and inflation.
Although Harris did not make transgender issues a central focus of her campaign, instead emphasizing abortion access to appeal to female voters, the Trump campaign seized on the issue, running an ad campaign targeting her stance on transgender rights. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” the ad stated, with a message highlighting the benefits of Trump’s tax cuts for middle-class Americans.
Trump used the issue to accuse Harris of inaction on critical issues affecting American workers. “Why hasn’t she done it? She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful White House, go to the Capitol, get everyone together, and do the things you want to do. But you haven’t done it, and you won’t do it, because you believe in things that the American people don’t believe in,” Trump said during the debate.
Blueprint’s report, along with an Associated Press post-election survey, confirmed that inflation, immigration, and cultural issues were top concerns for voters in the 2024 election, playing a decisive role in Trump’s victory over Harris.
The appeal to middle-class voters who felt neglected by the Biden-Harris administration played a pivotal role in swinging the race in Donald Trump’s favor, shifting the results by 2.7 percentage points across every state, according to a New York Times report.
The findings in a new Blueprint report align with observations made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) following the election.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders wrote in a post on X. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.”
