Not just the US, incumbent leadership world-wide have been losing since 2022
It appears to be a shock reaction to the social and economic crisis COVID caused. Especially economic - people have a hazy memory of the "before times", and the lingering global disaster hits of high additional mortality, lingering long COVID, global inflation, climate migration, and the wealthy and radicals taking advantage through plain old Disaster Capitalism have left the average person, educated or not, vulnerable to grievance propaganda and twisted nostalgia. Not to mention the sheer mental exhaustion dealing with a still new reality while trying to sort through what is true, what is lies, and what is coming through troll farms during elections.
https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/383208/donald-trump-victory-kamala-harris-global-trend-incumbents
Cold comfort, but it makes sense to me that a post-plague crisis can cause people long-term mental exhaustion that can be exhibited in an inability to follow through when stressed, over-reaction to the slightest threat (including existential threats), pessimism, and depression. They're more likely to just be emotionally pushed to just dump all the people they associate with lingering problems and let someone else take responsibility for a change, even if they know in their hearts it could get worse.
I know I've been having problems like depression and rage coping with solvable problems and minor conflicts post COVID. It's like a shifting fog surrounding me since 2020; harder for me to be aware of my environment; to assess and anticipate situations. I'm getting unpleasantly surprised much too easily and often. I suspect that's happened to a lot more people than would admit it.
I've been a relatively positive, energetic, pragmatic "find the solution" type of personality since I can remember. That's what got me through the overwhelming misogyny in my field to respected Upper-Mid level leadership. But post COVID (and Laz and I both caught it in January 2020) I've half the mental strength and resiliency I used to have. Too many times I'm tempted to "just leave" and let things sort themselves out without me instead of sticking to the process of fixing or completing issues that come up. I'm just easily exhausted. If that's happened to me, what could have happened to hundreds of millions of others?
Haele