Why Did the Elephant Win?

Cartoon showing Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge riding atop a Republican elephant, stomping a snake labeled “Radicalism.”

Donald Trump won the 2024 election against Kamala Harris, in the electoral college and popular vote. Out of 152 million votes for all parties in the popular vote, Trump managed to get just 5 million more than Harris. It was such a close call that many are questioning why it ended up the way it did.

In retrospect I believe it was due to these reasons. Trump has a sort of personality that comes across as imposing and stiff with his beliefs and opinions, in a way that causes contention and uproar. When it comes down to policies, many Americans may be hoping that the policies that the Republican Party has may be protected or won’t budge. Trump gives off a fighting spirit that can become contagious, even if you hate him, his constant persistence and down right grit is impressive. If he were fighting for what you liked, then you have a confidence that he will do anything to get his way.

This is the kind of confidence that swayed an additional 12% of voters that lived in rural areas. This 12% could have made up that 5 million mentioned before. For a long time Americans have been super upset with the political unrest of the contrary. If the electoral college reflected its votes the same way as the popular vote, it would have appeared as a much closer election. Compared to last election year, a little more than 15 million people voted last year that didn’t this year. Some calculations say that there could have potentially been 90 million people who could have voted that didn’t.

After the attempts on Trump’s life it may have caused panic to the conservative side. This panic led to Trump hosting more passionately spoken speeches and rallies evidently pulling more attention toward him. It seemed as if every few weeks there was a new head line just about him and his doing whereas Harris was lost in the mix.

One source that focused on data collection called “Data for Progress” focused on Trump vs Biden statistics and polls before Kamala took charge. The quote from their website says this “Swing voters’ main concern is Biden’s age and ability to handle the job — not his ideology. Swing voters select Biden being too old (55%) and being incompetent (40%) as reasons they might not vote for him.”

In comparison Kamala’s campaign felt very weak when forced to follow Biden’s administration. When she described how her presidency would differ, many chastised her because she was the vice president and didn’t satisfy or fulfill any of her promised changes while in office.
In comparison Trump has many resources at his disposal when it comes to marketing his campaigns. Coming from a business related background he not only understands what demographics he needs to target, but he knows how to make ideas come across as appealing. If Harris had put the same effort into her campaign to the right audience for the right reasons she could have pulled through.

As a final point, during the presidential debate Kamala’s constant attack at Trump may have seriously damaged her first impressions to many Americans. This could have ruined the potential appearance of a soft spoken, calm headed candidate. This would have been a huge contrast when faced up against Trump who, without a shadow of a doubt, has a loud mouth.