What Democrats Got Wrong

Image courtesy of NPR

By Griffin Cappiello

This is an independently submitted op-ed for our Quill section. Views and statements made in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Tower.

The Democratic Party certainly has a lot of soul-searching to do following President-Elect Trump’s decisive victory. The Republican Party is poised to gain control of all three branches of the federal government, flipping the Senate and keeping the House.  

Many polls suggested an electoral victory for Ms. Harris – or at the very least, a much closer race. Her failure suggests miscalculation by the Democratic Party. I believe Democrats made three significant errors in this year’s campaign: they underestimated the importance of the economy for voters, they misunderstood how to utilize the media, and they overestimated the motivation of their voter base.

According to NBC’s exit polls, 32% of voters cited the economy as the issue that mattered most when deciding how to vote for president. This is the second most important issue in the poll, following only “the state of democracy.”

68% of voters from this poll hold that they believe the condition of the nation’s economy was “not so good or poor,” with 46% of voters stating that they feel their family’s financial situation was worse off than it had been four years prior. 

Mr. Trump’s tariff plan appears to have been the more trusted solution to American voters, though I would argue that specific policy was not the key difference between voters. When Vice-President. Harris appeared on The View back in October, she stated “there is not a thing that comes to mind” which she would have done differently than President Biden. 

Ms. Harris failed to distance herself from Mr. Biden’s administration: an administration which – in the minds of many Americans – caused the current period of economic hardship. I believe that this failure to distance herself from the Biden administration contributed to her electoral loss.

In failing to promote new economic policy, Ms. Harris left Mr. Trump as the only candidate perceived to address this top issue for voters. The Democratic Party underestimated how much the American people desired swift economic change. 

Mr. Trump’s team was also more successful at utilizing a variety of media outlets to campaign. Mr. Trump, Senator Vance, and Mr. Musk’s appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience reached a combined 76 million views, while Ms. Harris’s appearance on Call Her Daddy and Governor Walz’s Madden livestream with Representative Ocasio-Cortez did not reach the same level of success. 

Both campaigns were on the same page when it came to reaching Gen Z voters: TikTok. Both the Team Trump and the KamalaHQ accounts were active throughout election season, typically posting humorous videos or memes in an attempt to resonate with young voters. 

However, Trump’s campaign made more of an effort to seek out a larger audience, hence his appearance on Joe Rogan, while Harris’s team played it safe by making appearances for her already established bases, such as younger women who predominantly make up the audience for Call Her Daddy. I believe this made Mr. Trump more visible to voters. 

This worked well for Mr. Trump and likely contributed to him flipping previous Biden voters.

In addition to losing flipped votes, Democrats received a lower turnout than they probably assumed. Polls suggest that voters were not overly excited to vote for Ms. Harris. There are several reasons suggested as to why. I believe that Democrats assumed voters would support any candidate next to the “Democrat” label on the basis that they were voting against Donald Trump. The Democratic Party did not hold an open primary to nominate a candidate.

If the Democratic Party had a stronger understanding of what sort of candidate their voter base would be excited about through a primary, perhaps the outcome of the election would have been different. This lack of inquiry about what voters wanted was ultimately their downfall.

For the Democratic Party, the 2024 election is one characterized by misunderstanding. They underestimated how important of an issue the economy would be for financially struggling Americans, they underutilized media in comparison to that of the Republican Party, and they overestimated which type of candidate would excite Americans to vote. These factors led to a disaster of an election for the Democrats. 

The Democratic Party will have plenty of time to reflect on this year’s election before selecting a candidate in four years. Would another coastal elite, like California governor Gavin Newsom, get the job done, or would everyman Tim Walz resonate better with the average American? Only time will tell the future of the Democratic Party. 

Griffin Cappiello is a freshman Politics major at the Catholic University of America.