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Turnout was down by quite a bit. That suggests to me that Harris lost the race more than Trump won. There are a few reasons for this. First, I think the Democratic Party suffered from a logjam of old politicians who didn't make room for younger generations. The same can happen at work. By the time Biden did step aside. it was only 3 months before the election. She just wasn't able to define herself or give voters a chance to know her or invest in her. And I think she was kind of stuck in Biden's shadow which is a shame because so little was done to tout his achievements or to point out Trump's effects on things like inflation due to his record deficits. The government will be realigned much more than the rest of us.

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It's hard to say, Greg, at this point. We are going to have many suggestions, and some will be worth studying. A great amount of money spent on repetitive advertising. Was it well targeted? Did some do more harm than good. Were exaggerations made believable by repetition? The Dems ground game may not have been effective? If so, why? I personally think that the economy played the key role and the Dems couldn't or wouldn't answer the Republicans., I'm not sure Harris didn't have enough time. I think the Trump team developed a narrative that caught on with many. Also, we need to explore whether or not Harris and the way the campaign "used" her was as strong as some thought., Lots to consider. I'm still with the Clinton line: "It's the economy, stupid."

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I'm not sure to what extent any of these questions can get to reasons for Trump to get fewer votes than he did in 2020 and Harris to get nearly 20% fewer votes than the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020. She was on that ticket! The realignment I see here is in the direction of not voting. I suspect many non voters may come back once they find out Trump's plans for them. But why the disengagement? I know some people, especially younger people, might point to Gaza and Israel. What else? Maybe instead of asking for a ranking of issues for those who voted, maybe we should ask non voters why they didn't vote.

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It does appear that trump got more votes than last time, but fewer than half. Harris still lags Biden's vote. I think we should ask those voters where they went and I'd also like to see Harris ask for manual recounts in a few of the swing states.

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