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The 2024 Presidential Election - Part 2

Sahar Ali

Volume 5 Issue 3

January 14, 2025

The 2024 Presidential Election - Part 2

Image Provided by Elaine Ching

The 2024 presidential election was one that many Americans looked forward to. Yet, most of the country was split between the Republican candidate, Former President Donald Trump, and the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, the first female to be Vice President. Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris significantly as he received 312 votes from the electoral college, while Harris received only 226. In order to win the election, a candidate must receive 270 electoral college votes, which Trump surpassed substantially.

  

Kamala Harris was the next candidate to run after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential election after his first debate with Trump that made him appear as unfit to run for president. According to The Guardian, Harris entered the race with only 107 days to campaign. However, many Americans were not in favor of the Biden Administration, which Harris was a part of herself as she was Biden’s Vice President for the last four years. Most young people between the ages of 18 and 34 who once supported Biden during the 2020 election did not support him for the 2024 election, and as many as 70% of voters aged 35 and under did not support Biden due to his handling of the Israel-Hamas War (NBC News). The resentment many held toward Biden affected Harris in her campaign.

  

Kamala Harris emphasized her campaign by speaking up for women’s rights, by “promising a ‘new generation of leadership,’ rallying women around abortion rights” (BBC). She also worked to gain the vote of the working class “by focusing on economic issues including rising costs and housing affordability” (BBC). Yet, during her campaign, Harris’s main verdict was that Trump posed “a clear and present danger to democracy,” which did not seem to help her campaign in any way or change voters’ way of perceiving Trump (Brookings).

  

Donald Trump, the winner of the election, received about 50% of the nation’s vote, according to the Associated Press. He appealed to African American and Latino voters. According to Time Magazine, “Trump boosted his support from 32% four years ago to a 54% majority.” Trump also appealed to younger men who “appreciated Trump’s brashness and habit of smashing norms” (Time Magazine). While he gained the votes of young men, Trump also had to figure out how to gain the votes of women, especially since an abortion ban could be possible due to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. To try to keep and gain more votes from women, Trump would claimed abortion would be left up to the states, but he officially stated that he would not support a nationwide abortion ban (Time Magazine).

  

For the Trump Administration, one of the biggest issues is immigration; the Biden Administration’s handling of which earned broad criticism. According to the BBC, 8 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States through Mexico since Biden took office in January 2021. Trump plans to use his power as President to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants (Time Magazine).

 

Trump’s victory can be highlighted by flaws in Harris’s campaign and the resentment associated with the Biden Administration, as well as his own ideals which were appealing to many of the American population. These next four years will be the last where Trump will be President, as he can no longer serve for more than two terms due to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. Although the results of the election bring on different emotions to different American communities, we should remember we are part of an impeccable nation that allows all of us to voice our opinions and vote for our leaders. Afterall, we will be able to voice our opinions again in four years in the 2028 election.  

 

SOURCES:  

AP's essential role in elections | AP News 

Kamala Harris had a whirlwind 107-day campaign. What’s next for her? | Kamala Harris | The Guardian 

Young voters explain why they’re bailing on Biden — and whether they’d come back 

Why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump 

Why Donald Trump won and Kamala Harris lost: An early analysis of the results 

How Donald Trump Won the 2024 Election | TIME 

How many migrants have crossed the US border illegally? 

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