Voter motivation and turnout
Think about it: 50 years ago, people voted according to positive partisanship. They voted for the party they liked the best, the one whose values best aligned with their own, right? And the ones that offered the policies with which they most agreed.
Well, in recent decades, all that has changed. American voters are now more motivated by negative partisanship. This means they vote for a party because they detest the opposing party.
You don’t have to particularly understand, trust, agree with, or even know what your party is delivering. You just have to find it less offensive than the other side’s beliefs.
Demographic breakdowns in the coming days will likely give better insights into this, but we may come to find that Trump voters were more motivated than Kamala Harris voters.
Many would say that this isn’t surprising because, to them, there has never been a more effective campaigner than Trump in American history. He was able to mobilize his headquarters in 2021 to attack the very seat of American democracy, the US Capitol.
So, it would stand to reason that he can motivate them to tick a box by bringing up their hatred of Democrats.
But, on the other hand, think about the Taylor Swift endorsement that was meant to be such a huge game changer for Kamala Harris by compelling young women to vote in hordes.
The singer encouraged positive partisanship, encouraging people to vote for Kamala Harris because she supports her. That’s not exactly what thrills most American voters nowadays. Other aspects have come into play, as well, notably the double standards applied to Donald Trump.
There’s also the spread of misinformation by social media. Was Trump ever beatable? It’s hard to say. But it’s obvious that the American people, more than ever, are buying what he’s selling.
Given that the US still has the world’s biggest economy, most powerful military, and most influential culture, it’s safe to say that we’re strapped into a second spin of the Trump rollercoaster, folks!
2 Responses
first of all african american woman had almost nothing to do with is as she was not one of those . I’m the past she herself even made that statement . What beat kamala was the way her and biden governed our nation since they took office . If they had governed in the middle and not far left my guess is she would have won . Open borders was most likely her biggest obstacle . Latinos here legally and born her plus blacks are against open borders as they lose jobs to those people and crime escalated in their neighborhoods. Dems need to really rethink their objectives because they are very unamerican in nature .
1)Americans are not ready yet for a Madam president from their heart .2)Mr Biden should resign at least 7 months before and Madam Kamala could take over the presidency 3)Too much chaos to the border /immigrants 4)Muslim minority totally disappointed,Biden forgot it’s Election year.5)Kamala should have some new policies /ideas to attract the new voters beside Biden’s policy ,plus all other causes above .