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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    18 hours 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@lemmy.world
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      18 hours 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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        17 hours 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.

        • Jerkface@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          “Thousands of my countrymen will perish, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

          • Damage@feddit.it
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            15 hours 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

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      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

      And this is what you don’t get. There’s a huge fucking gap between “not ideal” and “supporting genocide to the point that Dick Cheney likes you.” And you didn’t acknowledge it. You just belittled it with “not ideal.” Because you couldn’t admit that what Democrats were doing was monstrous and unconscionable.

      Anyone who pulls this “you didn’t get 100% of everything you want, but…” shit? They got 100% of everything they wanted. Especially the genocide support. And especially Cheney.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      17 hours 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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        18 hours 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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          16 hours 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.

            • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              Better isn’t the word I would use. I don’t think Vamce ilcould be the cult leader Trump is. I think when Trump dies it will at least take some time to build up another cult leader.

            • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzOP
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              9 hours ago

              I honestly don’t know. He’s not as viscerally mean as Trump, but he’s also a lot smarter. I think some part of him is a fancy boy who wants to be liked and to win by being clever and insightful rather than just brutal. He used to write about his nice life in San Francisco doing community gardening. If he could get the upper-crust to like him (not just use him) that seems like something he’d enjoy.

              But then again, he sold out to the guy he thought was Hitler, so he might just be completely without shame or conscience.

    • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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      16 hours 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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        13 hours 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.

        • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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          8 hours 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 coping 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.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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          10 hours 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.

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        17 hours 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”.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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          17 hours 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.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            They tried that this time. They basically told the left to fuck off and die. Moving to the right has very publicly failed.

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              4 hours ago

              They literally told the left to come out for abortion rights and to save democracy. If the left doesn’t come out for that then 1) they will literally never show up, or 2) they don’t exist. Take your pick. Either the dems will never rely on the left showing up ever again. Kiss any left policy goodbye. They will go hard to the center. Clinton was right “it’s the economy stupid”.

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              2 hours 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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                16 hours 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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                  16 hours ago

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

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            17 hours 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.

            • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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              17 hours 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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                17 hours 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.

                • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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                  17 hours 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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                    16 hours 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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                16 hours 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@fedia.io
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        17 hours 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.