# What could the Harris campaign have done differently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 6, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798 "2024-11-06T16:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/223 "2024-11-11T21:54:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Sure, Shapiro might have gotten PA but for the rest of the nation, a black/asian woman plus a Jewish man would be too much of an ask. What state do you think this woulda cost them? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/224 "2024-11-11T23:11:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > They’re asking the public to buy more expensive light bulbs, have cars/appliances that have a lot of complication for environmental reasons, and may not perform as well as the older versions., etc… For good reasons, but this is still something the Democrats are demanding from people. One conservative commentator on another board put it this way: “They’re such a great idea that no one will buy them unless they’re forced to; and according to the Democrats, this is because people are so stupid and selfish. Way to win people over”. ---
**Author:** ![BorealisCooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@BorealisCooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorealisCooper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/225 "2024-11-12T01:22:46Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > > [@Babale](#): > > > > I think the Democratic position on immigration is perfectly fine. The main issue is our overwhelmed asylum system; > > This is my thought on immigration issues in most countries where it’s a problem. Yes there are more migrants about, and a lot of them don’t have good asylum claims. The solution that works is to expand the bureaucracy There you go. That kind of an attitude is one example that the majority of voters are tired of, and even after the fact, you don’t get it. You think it’s perfectly fine. Everything is great. We just need more bureaucracy! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/226 "2024-11-12T01:24:47Z")
> [@BorealisCooper](#): > > There you go. That kind of an attitude is one example that the majority of voters are tired of That’s a condemnation of those voters. “How _dare_ you try to solve the problem!” ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/227 "2024-11-12T01:24:47Z")
> [@BorealisCooper](#): > > That kind of an attitude is one example that the majority of voters are tired of Of you read to the end of that post, you can see that the purpose of expanding the bureaucracy is to deport people faster. You don’t think Trump’s plan to deport 15 million people is going to require bureaucracy too? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/228 "2024-11-12T01:52:15Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > I’d start the Democrats’ march to right from 1945 and Harry Truman, with big lurches under Carter and the march continuing after that. It’s a bit more complicated than that considering the southern Democrats were the party of pro-segregation white conservatives right up to and a bit beyond the era of Civil Rights in the 1960’s. Remember [George Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace) was a Democrat and a genteel liberal he was not. The Republicans veered right with the ‘Southern Strategy’ and their success caused a ripple effect as southern Democrats became southern Republicans and northern Democrats veered left on social policy. I get the feeling you’re more interested in a labor theory of history, but the working class and liberalism have only intermittently aligned in the US. By and large the rank and file of the KKK and IWW came from the same general economic background (and there were often a lot more of the former) ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/229 "2024-11-12T02:06:51Z")
Not sure what a labor theory of history is, but my point was only that the Democratic Party national platforms, legislation, and rhetoric shifted further to the right after Roosevelt and continued on that trajectory through this election. I agree that liberalism and liberals are not fundamentally interested in the working class, and they have been less and less interested since FDR, who was forced to take their concerns seriously for several reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/230 "2024-11-12T04:33:59Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > I still insist that Harris ran an excellent campaign. There may have been some things to improve on ( in hindsight maybe go on Rogan) but overall I refuse to blame her or her team or Biden. By the popular vote numbers, Harris ran a great campaign; she pulled in 71.8 million votes. This is more than both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, and besting Obama in both of his elections even when adjusted proportionally for population. She didn’t yield Biden’s 81.7 million in 2020, but she also wasn’t coming into a field where the opposition’s massive failings in managing the response to what was a pretty mild global pandemic (by epidemiologist standards) and the daily churn that left everyone exhausted were still in the consciousness of the electorate. The voting public has a memory of politics about six months, and so all of the shit that occurred four years is blotted out by the specter of inflation and the ‘border crisis’. Pundits can, of course, point to one thing or another that she ‘should have done’ differently although I have yet to see a single suggestion that would have actually reaped her another three millions votes. Maybe she could have gotten the margin in Michigan by embracing Palestinians and condemning Israel’s conduct in Gaza but then she’d lose pro-Israel votes elsewhere. She could have been more progressive but then she’d be slammed for being “too liberal”; or she could have gone full on centrist and told LGBTQ people that ‘it’s not your time’ and lost the progressive vote. The expectation that she needs to be some kind of political Stretch Armstrong and simultaneously please all of the multitude of competing demographics plus pull in all of the people who don’t normally vote but were frustrated enough to overcome their apathy in 2020 is kind of like asking an elephant to flap his ears and fly. The question isn’t what Harris should have done differently; I mean, that is a question you can ask, but the real question is _how did Trump pull in 75 million votes_? By practical standards, he didn’t even really run a campaign; he just showed up at events and babbled on in total stream of consciousness, often for so long that crowds thinned and the message—aside from persecuting immigrants and “the enemy within”—was completely unclear. He literally danced his way through most of one event instead of even speaking, which for anyone concerned that verbal gaffs and stuttering were an indicator of Joe Biden’s inability to perform as president should have been a screaming air horn that Trump couldn’t even pay attention in the middle of an imminent crisis. Sure, he got the Evangelical Christian vote (most of it, anyway, despite fervent claims that they were abandoning him based on a few isolated congregations) because they have been trained to accept totally unfounded and counterfactual claims without criticism as long as their leaders (who, like Trump, are scammers manipulating people to their own ends) command it, but that is at best 30-40 million voters; only half, more or less, of the people who did vote for him. Where is the additional 35-45 million voters coming from? The vast majority of them were adults during the first Trump Administration and lived through the insanity of that; they’ve seen not only his character on full display, as Trump has no reserve or artifice, but also his ‘polices’ (such as they are), his management (best described as ‘mercurial’), and his ability to accept guidance on topics on which he is not well informed (everything to do with governance, for a start). And yet, they voted for him anyway, because…’the economy’? They wanted a ‘change’? Kamala Harris is too [take your pick of prejudices and fabrications]? I think the reality here is that the American electorate at large has been well primed for fascism, and Trump is kind of their ideal despot; an unapologetic despot and sociopath who behaves in the public sphere as he did on a reality t.v. show. These are voters who have seen what Trump is and what he stands for; the wool was not pulled over their eyes; the didn’t ‘not know’ that he lies about what he promises to deliver and tells the truth when he threatens to persecute opponents; that he tried to interfere with an election and incited an insurrection to keep himself in power. They have elected to silo themselves off from a diversity of news and information so that they can be wrapped in the comfortable outrage of conspiranoia and nonsense that wouldn’t fool a fourteen year old and voted for a guy who literally said he wanted to become a dictator. People have been conditioned to normalize that kind of behavior—which would have been instantly disqualifying in an earlier era of the last century—and they want someone with simple solutions to complex problems even if they are stupid and obviously unworkable. Newt Gingrich et al have provided the glossary and the backroom operators like Leonard Leo, funneling campaign money and buying judges, have essentially assured that when someone like Trump came along and grabbed the publics’ attention that he would be successful despite himself. Saying it was about “the economy” or they voted for Trump because they don’t like Harris’s association with Biden on Gaza is obvious nonsense; they voted for a fascist candidate because they want fascism and think that a wanna-be strongman is a better solution than working through the messiness and compromise of democratic processes. Harris didn’t do anything ‘wrong’—at least, not moreso than any other normal politician—and pulled in a record numbers of voters only second to Biden. She just was set against a long-standing campaign to undermine the American psyche which was purposed designed to promote fascism. That she pulled in almost 72 million votes is a credit to how well she did under difficult circumstances with an improvised campaign that struggled to ‘message’ to the wide diversity of skeptical voters. We’re not here because she failed; we’re here because we, the American public, collectively failed to choose democracy over autocracy. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/231 "2024-11-12T06:13:23Z")
She forgot to steal the law codes from Biden and launch a nuclear attack on the flyover states, eliminating a huge percentage of the dumbass contingent of American voters. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/232 "2024-11-12T11:53:12Z")
Fantastic post @Stranger_On_A_Train I would still maintain though that a lot of votes were simply “eggs cost more now”, and if you only know facts like that in isolation, maybe your only opinion is “we need a change”. Agree about all the rest though, and well put ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/233 "2024-11-12T15:14:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What state do you think this woulda cost them? None. But I think she would have lost the other swing states even worse. Jewish veep candidates are 0 for 1 (Liebermann). I think we have to accept that at this moment, the US is not ready for a female president. Nor would the US accept a Jewish president or vice president. Combining the two on one ticket would be twice as problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/234 "2024-11-12T15:37:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jewish veep candidates are 0 for 1 (Liebermann). Al Gore’s defeat proves that the US is not ready for a First Lady named Tipper (Tippers are 0 for 1). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/235 "2024-11-12T15:48:46Z")
**Rule A :** **Do not give speeches that sound like a University Professor to blokes who work in 7/11s.** That is, learn to talk to the _nonunion_ working class. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/236 "2024-11-12T15:59:19Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > > [@BobLibDem](#): > > > > Jewish veep candidates are 0 for 1 (Liebermann). > > Al Gore’s defeat proves that the US is not ready for a First Lady named Tipper (Tippers are 0 for 1). But we elected a non-Jewish veep named [Levi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_P._Morton). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/237 "2024-11-12T17:39:40Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jewish veep candidates are 0 for 1 (Liebermann). And women came in 0 for 1 but Harris was handed the nomination all the same. Walz was a colossally boring choice from a safe state; I said at the time he was just like Tim Kaine and he sure was. There’s no way choosing Shapiro could have been a worse pick. ---
**Author:** ![SlipperyPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@SlipperyPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlipperyPete)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/238 "2024-11-12T18:03:24Z")
We need to become the economic populist party. Here’s what we did in this past election, which was clearly a failure. GOP: “Your life has gotten worse, and it’s the fault of failed Democratic policies, and illegal immigrants.” Dems: “Actually things aren’t that bad. The market is good, inflation is lower, employment is good. We are doing good things to help you, and we want to do more.” Unfortunately, messages of fear and doom seem to be much more powerful than messages of hope and realism. The Dems need to change to this message if they want to win again. Dems: “Your life has gotten worse, and its the result of the failed policies of Trump and the Republicans. They work with the corporate elites to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and they lie to you about who is to blame. It’s not immigrants, its THEM, and the rich! We want to help the working class get back to being afford a good life in this country, and we’re going to do that by stopping all these failed policies that continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/239 "2024-11-12T20:53:09Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Fantastic post @Stranger_On_A_Train I’ll second that. Really insightful. > [@Mijin](#): > > I would still maintain though that a lot of votes were simply “eggs cost more now”, and if you only know facts like that in isolation, maybe your only opinion is “we need a change”. I think this is fair (and also insightful). > [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think we have to accept that at this moment, the US is not ready for a female president. > [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > Al Gore’s defeat proves that the US is not ready for a First Lady named Tipper (Tippers are 0 for 1). Excellent response! People are going to believe what they want to believe. I don’t think the numbers support the idea that a Democratic male would have beaten Trump in this election. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/240 "2024-11-13T02:32:55Z")
AOC has thoughts. > **[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/aoc.bsky.social/post/3larjy72ohk2i)** > > The ironic thing about post election chatter is that a lot of the time it’s candidates who lost, underperformed, or underworked who have endless time to go on TV and share their blame story. > > And for their part, journalists rarely EVER ask if that... > **[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/aoc.bsky.social/post/3larkxnu4hs2i)** > > I wish people were made to show receipts of their operations before casting blame. > > How many doors did your team knock this cycle? This should be asked more. > > Also a LOT of consultants get rich off Dem campaigns win/lose so there’s a huge financial... ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/241 "2024-11-13T02:42:12Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > Al Gore’s defeat proves that the US is not ready for a First Lady named Tipper (Tippers are 0 for 1). No black person had ever lost a general election before 2024. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798/242 "2024-11-13T02:59:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > There’s no way choosing Shapiro could have been a worse pick. Well Shapiro does have that friend whose wife “committed suicide” by stabbing herself _in the back of the head_ ten times. I’m not saying Shapiro covered up a murder. But I would like a better explanation from Shapiro himself as to why it looks like he covered up a murder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-the-harris-campaign-have-done-differently/1009798.md?page=13)