Why did Kamala Harris lose?
What scandals or mistakes has Trump made in the past?
He kept classified documents at his golf club when he left the White House. When the FBI asked him to return them, he ordered his staff to hide them and delete the security camera videos
He kept saying he never lost the election because it was rigged. 70% of voters disagreed
When illegal immigrants entered the US, he separated children from families and kept the kids in cages. He didn’t keep good records of the kids so parents couldn’t find them later
On January 6th he made a speech telling his supporters to march to the Capitol. He said: "“fight like hell,” and “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength.”
Who do you think these women are?
accuse (verb) “ah-kyooz” = say someone committed a crime or did something bad
classified = confidential = secret
rigged (adj) “rigd” = someone cheated so the results are decided before the vote / match. E.g. “Some sumo matches were rigged”
27 women have accused Trump or sexual harassment
Donald Trump will become the US President again. How do you feel about that?
Why do you think Harris lost?
These are a list of reasons various commentators believe affected the result.
Do you agree with them?
1) She’s a woman
A woman has never been President of the United States.
47% of Latino men and 24% of Black men voted for Trump. These numbers are higher than in the last election when Biden was running.
Latino’s are often quite conservative.
Trump often complains about illegal immigrants and wants to deport them but many legal Latino Americans feel the same way
deport (verb) = send a person out of the country (usually after they commit a crime)
2) Is it Biden’s fault?
He dropped out 4 months before the election.
Some people believe the American people didn’t have enough time to get to know Harris… however she was Vice President.
3) Bad answers in interviews
In October 2024 Harris was asked this question in an interview:
Interviewer: “What would you have done differently if you were the President instead of Joe Biden for the past 4 years?”
Harris: "Not a thing comes to mind."
What do you think of her answer?
4) She’s the continuation candidate
Many people are unhappy with the economic situation in the US due to recent high inflation.
Those people felt Harris and Biden will have similar policies so Trump would be something new
Nine in 10 voters were concerned about the price of groceries.
5) People are worried about illegal immigrants (because of the right wing media)
In 2023 Biden agreed to Republican demands about new border protection laws… however Trump made Republicans not sign it because it would make Biden look successful.
4 in 10 voters said illegal immigrants should be deported.
Is this a good solution?
6) Democrats are now the party that appeals to the University educated elites
Harris made great intellectual speeches but they were too long and complicated for casual (especially working class) voters to understand. Trump’s message was more simple
Some believe the Democrats’ policies aren’t focused enough on working class people.
… however in reality their tax plan will tax companies and the richest more and they’ll provide more services for working class voters
7) Israel
Why was Israel in the news recently?
What is the relationship between Israel and the US?
In 2024 Israel has attacked 2 Palestinian territories, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran and Syria.
In the attacks many innocent civilians and UN workers were killed. Biden and the Democrats have supported Israel despite their terrible actions so Muslim Americans are angry at the Democrats.
Some of them didn’t vote. Some of them voted for Republicans in the hope they will have a different policy.
The Republicans will probably have the same policy but they are cleverly not saying their opinions to avoid being criticized.
sources:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/24/politics/trump-worst-abuses-of-power/index.html
https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/analysis/president-trumps-worst-offenses/
https://apnews.com/article/election-harris-trump-women-latinos-black-voters-0f3fbda3362f3dcfe41aa6b858f22d12
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4l5j2v9do