Kamala Harris lost the presidency to Donald Trump because of her terrible campaign. Contrary to conventional wisdom, she wasn't the reason for this. Didn't keep distance properly From President Biden. Rather, it was because she wasn't hugging him hard enough.
Two major issues in the election favored Donald Trump. Both are based on the experience of most voters (apart from those who are doing well financially to be oblivious).
We've all recently bought something for the first time in years, I was surprised by the price increase. In addition to this, daily necessities priceswe felt financially overwhelmed. We want peace of mind. playing cards promised us that peace Even if the relief he promised was a mirage.
The real wage in America is stagnant or decreasing For most workers since the 1970s. This happened at a time when income inequality was rapidly increasing and the top 1% were falling into poverty. own as much wealth as the bottom 90% of the population. Many of us have found this wage stagnation and lack of wealth to be less than we imagined. Women's entry into the workforce. This means that household income has declined by less than it would have otherwise. But that effect is waning, with many people living paycheck to paycheck and a broken washing machine affecting their ability to eat for weeks.
This wage stagnation was an attempt by Boeing workers to compensate for the slump in wages. recent strikesbut most of us have no hope of regaining what was lost. many of us believe in ourselves have the right to a standard of living and the social status of parents and grandparents. Although this feeling can sometimes take on shades of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia, the underlying dilemma is real.
Joe Biden sought to address the second problem, which caused short-term inflation as we emerge from the pandemic. given Short-term supply issuesthis inflation was necessary to keep America from falling into a deep recession or even depression. Biden avoids recession and Great Depression while millions of jobs and kept the unemployment rate low. Most people have struggled, but the alternative would have been worse for many of us.
Biden brought some industries back to the United States while fighting climate change. Biden was the best president for our country since Franklin Roosevelt.
Harris could not escape the realities of inflation and the structural changes in the U.S. economy, but explained what she and Biden have been doing to improve them to prevent things from getting worse. I could have done that. She could have told us a story that would help us understand our current situation.
Did such a story convince all voters? Of course not, but her comments and ads would have been more effective than telling us she meant to. Pursue price gouging. Few voters believed she knew how to deal with economic hardship, but she failed miserably at convincing them otherwise.
Welcoming Biden's economic efforts, explaining why they have begun to address the economy's structural problems and ameliorating the environmental disaster, and saying the price of short-term inflation is a price worth paying to avoid a deep recession. If I made it clear that this was the case, I might have been satisfied. Voters will help her avoid the disaster that befell us with Trump's election.
If Kamala Harris had added to this story a defense of programs to address inequality and more meaningfully deal with the increasingly dire economic situation of most Americans, she would have realized that economic programs are leading to disaster. He would have defeated Donald Trump by a long shot.
Mark Gould is a professor of sociology at Haverford College.
