Wrong voters, wrong message: progressives' autopsy lays bare Kamala Harris failures

[cer7711]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Emile (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Guardian - British newspaper

Kamala Harris lost last year’s US presidential election because she chased the wrong voters with the wrong message, ultimately demobilising the very base that she needed to win, according to an autopsy by a progressive grassroots advocacy group.

The vice-president focused on courting moderate Republicans over motivating core Democratic working-class, young and progressive voters, a misstep compounded by her failure to break from Joe Biden on Gaza, says the report by RootsAction.

“To win back the White House and Congress, we urge the Democratic party to change course and embrace economic populist policies that inspire and help working-class Americans,” argues the autopsy. “The Democratic party must show voters that it has a spine and can stand up to corporate and big-money interests.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/10/kamala-harris-election-autopsy

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Posted without comment.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Stupid bullshit message.

It couldn't get much more stupid than this.

[LearnedHand]

2. Could you explain which part of this analysis is stupid and bullshit?

I get that we can take exception to the conclusions, but the basic facts are incontrovertible. Democrats stayed away in droves. The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging registrations. The Democratic Party polls nearly as low as the Republican Party.

[FredGarvin]

5. Be careful

Don't criticize Dems.

You WILL be warned by the mods and possibly banned if there is another offense.

Am I allowed to post this within DU guidelines?

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. To blame VP Harris or her message for

Her loss is STIPID. Her messaging was spot on.

[FredGarvin]

4. Explain

[FredGarvin]

3. Being Critical of Dems

Ban-able offense on DU.

Be careful dude.

[MichMan]

10. Wrong

[Random Boomer]

11. Dems lost the 2024 presidential election

Figuring out why is kinda important. Not sure I'm persuaded by this specific article, but the topic is worth exploring.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. This is dumb

Not all Dems are "progressives" by anybody's definition. We are a big tent and pride outseves on that. The study is fundamentally flawed. The basic problem is misogyny and possibly even to a larger degree, racism. We couldn't win with a white woman, and we couldn't win with a Black woman either. So let's not do it again in 2028 or until some people either go away or get some sense knocked into them.

BTW, the same people that "wouldn't vote for a woman" still vote for the likes of Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, Virginia Foxx, Nasty Mace, et al. Riddle me that one if you can.

[flying_wahini]

7. Throwing down the Bullshit flag. Thousands and thousands of people think she was right on target.

Me included.

[displacedvermoter]

8. She was an "Uppity" Black woman from California

and Joe Biden was old...

More than enough reason for a lotta intentionally ignorant folks to vote against their own self interests.

[SpankMe]

9. I couldn't find the autopsy report on RootsAction's web site

There are many, many "autopsies", reports and opinions on why the election went the way it did. There's just no way to know which one is right. Everyone thinks they have the answer, and they eviscerate anyone who disagrees with them.

What methodology can be used to get to the right answer? Seems multifaceted to me. We can't distill it down to one or two or three factors. The reason we lost is very complex and is a combination of a whole lot of factors - voter turnout, right-wing misinformation, Republican voter suppression, timing, Joe saying he would run only one term but ran for a second anyway, the economy, Israel/Palestine, Kamala's race/gender, shifting loyalties in the minority communities that normally vote Dem - the list goes on and on.

[Akakoji]

12. You'd think holding up a big book called Project 2025

to a mainly illiterate or at least definitely too lazy or uninterested in reading anything would have easily won the Presidency. But here we are. I. just can't believe page 149 didn't drive people to the polls. Go figure. You know what's on page 149, right?

[Emile]

14. After an alert and discussion with the hosts, locking.

This is analysis, and not considered latest breaking news. Feel free reposting this in General Discussion.

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