Harris only received five percent of Republican votes — less than the six percent Joe Biden won in 2020 when he beat Trump, as well as the seven percent won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 when she lost to him. While Harris won independents and moderates, she did so by smaller margins than Biden did in 2020.

Meanwhile, Harris lost households earning under $100,000, while Democratic turnout collapsed. Votes are still being counted, but Harris is on pace to underperform Biden’s 2020 totals by millions of votes.

  • @b34k@lemmy.world
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    638 months ago

    Yes, my friend was one of them. I was shocked when 2 weeks before election he told me he was planning on not voting.

    I asked why and he cited holding the same position Isreal as Biden, and courting republicans like Cheney, saying that was not a good look for the party at all.

    I told him it’s not ideal, but we need to vote to keep Trump out…. Sometimes we just have to be pragmatic.

    He responded saying it’s the Dem establishment that keeps allowing a boogey man like Trump to rise so they can shove center right corporatists down our throats. He said he was abstaining from voting to send a message to the DNC, and followed it up with, “we survived a first Trump term, I’m sure we can survive a second.”

    • Billiam
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      608 months ago

      we survived a first Trump term

      As long as you weren’t one of the million Americans who died of COVID thanks to his misadministration.

      Or the Capitol police who died as a result from his attempted insurrection.

      • @b34k@lemmy.world
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        298 months ago

        I mean, he’s an ex-pat who was living in Hong Kong, S Korea, and Vietnam for most of Trumps first term… so I’m sure he didn’t feel it as hard as most of us who were here for it.

          • @Damage@feddit.it
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            68 months ago

            It’s a mistake reasoning as if you’re taking of one guy. Maybe one third of your population voted, and most of those voted for Trump, it means that most of you guys are pretty ok with dying during the next COVID or whatever

    • @CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      258 months ago

      He responded saying it’s the Dem establishment that keeps allowing a boogey man like Trump to rise so they can shove center right corporatists down our throats. He said he was abstaining from voting to send a message to the DNC, and followed it up with, “we survived a first Trump term, I’m sure we can survive a second.”

      I remember when I was 14.

      • @b34k@lemmy.world
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        108 months ago

        Yeah, I am definitely in the camp that Trump part 2 will be worse…. but we don’t know for sure yet

        • @UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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          88 months ago

          Keep in mind Trump is pushing 80 and has a steady diet of McDonalds and Diet Coke. Here’s to hoping nature takes its course.

      • @orclev@lemmy.world
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        148 months ago

        I don’t agree with him, but I think he’s expecting them to support liberal progressive policies. Seems to be taking the stance of “if we can’t improve things it’s better to watch it all burn rather than slowly rot”.

        • @someguy3@lemmy.world
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          78 months ago

          Tell him that not voting to convince them to run liberal progressive policies won’t work. You can’t play Mexican standoff because the Dems have an out: the center voters.

            • @someguy3@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              So no one is ever allowed to think otherwise. Gotcha.

              *The better answer is that she needed to win over center. That is different than Republicans.

              • @Zaktor@sopuli.xyzOP
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                108 months ago

                What exactly do you think should have been done differently for Harris to activate this “just win with centrists” option? Because it very much seems like that was just tried and failed miserably.

                • @orclev@lemmy.world
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                  68 months ago

                  Was just in a very long thread with him, but he seems to think economic issues are exclusively centrist.

                  • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost
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                    8 months ago

                    Milquetoast liberal blames everyone but themselves, news at 11. Shame they’re named after a good root beer.

                  • @someguy3@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    Not exclusively no lol, but it’s the center economic policy that will win. UBI for example is a left economic policy and i sincerely doubt UBI will win an election. It will be seen as too much.

          • @orclev@lemmy.world
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            88 months ago

            I’m not OP so I don’t actually know him so I can’t tell him anything, although I do know one person like that. As for your point I’m not sure that actually follows since those center voters didn’t show up to save Harris this time. If the DNC keeps losing elections at some point, assuming we’re all still here and we even still have elections, they will have to try something different. It’s a very risky play but I also can’t say it won’t work.

            • @someguy3@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Harris relied on the left showing up for their rights and for democracy. That was a ton of her campaign. And the left didn’t show up. If they don’t show up for that, they won’t show up for anything. They will try something different and that’s going all in on the center voter, who actually show up.

              • @orclev@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                I replied to your other comment where you said basically the same thing, but the short version is there clearly isn’t enough center voters for that to be a winning strategy. If they try that next election (If there even is a next election) it’s going to be an even more lopsided victory for the Republicans.

                • @someguy3@lemmy.world
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                  48 months ago

                  See my other response. It’s the other way around, there isn’t enough left (or rather, if they can’t show up for their own human fucking rights and mfing democracy, they will never never never show up for literally anything). The center is the big juicy middle that exists, that Trump appealed to, who actually show up, whose votes are worth double (because it’s a vote for you and a vote taken away from the other party), and where elections are won.

                  • @orclev@lemmy.world
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                    98 months ago

                    There’s left wing economic policies as well. Running on anti-monoploy and increased taxes on the rich, would be an excellent way to go further left and is exactly I think what a lot of people were looking for this election. Ignoring the economy is never a winning strategy unless the economy is already doing really well which it very much isn’t.

              • @UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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                28 months ago

                You’re right. I don’t buy this narrative that the dems lost because they were left enough. The polls show voters were motivated by inflation and thought Biden’s progressive policies were to blame.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness
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        78 months ago

        Well Biden for example could’ve done a much better job actually persecuting prosecuting him for his crimes. He can do that as the head of the Executive branch.

    • @UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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      48 months ago

      Funny thing is your friends opinions are popular on lemmy.ml which makes it seem like foreign actors are pushing these talking points. They definitely worked in Trumps favor.

      • @Saleh@feddit.org
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        78 months ago

        Now the blue MAGA is talking about the election being stolen…

        Seriosuly how did you expect to win against Trump by copying Trump? People always chose the original authoritarian nazi asshole over the knock-off copy.

        You know what wouldnt have worked in Trumps favor? Stopping the genocide in Gaza. That would have led to a landslide victory for the Dems.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness
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          38 months ago

          That would have led to a landslide victory for the Dems.

          Honestly, probably not really. It’d have likely led to a closer election by winning them Michigan, but the Democrats had a more fundamental problem than very unpopular foreign policy.

        • @UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Now the blue MAGA is talking about the election being stolen…

          What is this supposed to mean? Who is the blue maga?

          Who is suggesting copying Trump?

          The polls show voters were motivated by inflation. As much as I’d like the people of Palestine to not be safe and thrive, I literally don’t know anyone irl that considered that when voting. But the way it is pushed on lemmy you’d think it is Iran voting for Americas next president.