In 2020, Joe Biden got 81 million votes. In 2024, Kamala Harris got about 69 million votes. Where are the missing votes?

More than 10 million voters who tapped Biden in 2020 did not vote for Harris in 2024, and as a result Trump swept all the swing states and won a popular majority. Trump received about the same number of votes as he did in 2020: 72-74 million.

From these numbers, we know that the same people who voted for Trump in 2020 voted for him in 2024. He only lost a couple of million votes in the interim, despite all the publicity surrounding the incident of January 6, 2021, the loss of civil suits for fraud and sexual abuse, and a felony conviction for election interference (the coverup of a sexual encounter, i.e. adultery).

We can assume that these voters have an almost psychotic devotion to Trump and were unaffected by his many scandals.

But the loss of more than 10 million votes (they’re not through counting all the mail-in ballots) by Harris from Biden’s win demands explanation. For some reason, these people seem to have not voted at all.

There are four factors that may have prompted nominally Democratic voters not to tap Harris: inflation, immigration, gender, and ethnicity.

Let us objectively consider these issues: they were all pounded upon, over and over again, by the Republican propaganda machine.

Inflation was primarily a result of the pandemic, which caused an increased demand on shipping and at the same time forced shutdowns, sickness of employees, and quarantines. These factors dramatically increased shipping costs and led to rises in prices for many goods, almost all of which are shipped from somewhere. As a result, inflation was worldwide and has barely subsided at the present moment.

In fact, the US suffered less from inflation and recovered faster than almost all other countries. The inflation rate climbed to 9.1% in 2022. It has dropped to 2.5% in the last few months. The overall increase in the price of food from 2020 to now was 25%. The raw numbers are painful, but our relative standing among world economies is exceptionally good.

Republican propaganda made it seem as if Biden was personally responsible for inflation and could have controlled it if he wanted to. In fact, our country did better than most countries in response to the worldwide problems, so Biden should get credit for that. The failure was in not taking propaganda advantage of these accomplishments.

With “irregular migration” (viz. illegal immigrants) the situation has been very different. The Biden administration made few public statements and appeared to do little to combat large numbers of immigrants until it tried to pass comprehensive border legislation, apparently at the last moment. Trump blocked this legislation although it provided a close approximation to Republican demands, and used the persistence of the problem for propaganda.

Too late, Biden introduced executive actions which successfully closed down the border. For the last few months, border activity has been very low. This accomplishment was not publicized (possibly for fear of putting off liberals?)

Republican propaganda made it seem as if Biden was personally responsible for letting murders, rapists, and people carrying fentanyl in backpacks into the country, and then giving them welfare.

Propaganda surrounding these issues didn’t improve Trump’s numbers despite its evocation of the fantasy of murderers from Mexico. But apparently it suppressed Democratic enthusiasm for voting.

Harris did not make propaganda of hers being a new policy approach. She even refused to criticize anything Biden had done: “I wouldn’t change a thing.” She should have separated herself from Biden and announced reversals in policy on the margins at least.

The last two issues, gender and ethnicity, were played upon crudely by Trump. Did they also dampen Democratic enthusiasm for voting? Probably, there was an element of misogyny and racism in the results.

Who falls for propaganda? Poorly educated people. These people are also more likely to be racist and misogynist. The voting breakdown bears this out, with Trump support concentrated among people with a high school diploma or less, and Harris support in the college educated. White women and young people as a whole broke for Trump. We can surmise from this that the lower a person’s intelligence (as reflected in their educational achievement), the more likely that person is to succumb to propaganda. Women– white women?

The issues of inflation and irregular migration, as propagandized to people of low intelligence, combined with the inherent bias of the American public against women and nonwhite ethnic backgrounds, may account for the collapse of Democratic support in 2024. There is no need to infer failures to campaign properly or faux pas, nor the influence of Biden in whatever way. These factors alone explain the difference.

I am deeply disappointed in the American public. At the same time, I can comprehend the baleful influence of the Republican propaganda machine in turning gullible people away from the Democrats. The policies of Republicans have also weakened education all over this country, especially in the public schools. A poorly educated people of subnormal intelligence are the ideal subjects for propaganda.

The failure of the Democratic campaign was primarily ineffective propagandizing. I would suggest a study of the existing literature on effective propaganda. We can begin by studying Goebbels, Hitler’s indispensable propaganda minister.

The Republicans certainly have studied Goebbels, and there is evidence that Trump has studied Hitler’s speeches. His first wife said he kept a book of the speeches at his bedside, and it is apparently the only book Trump has ever studied in depth.

There is a crying need for effective propaganda against the Republicans. This material need not twist the facts far, as there is abundant objective evidence for the advantages of Biden’s and Harris’ policies over Trump’s.

I predict that the Trump administration will immediately develop violent internal conflict and pervasive dysfunction due to the appointment of multiple incompetent apparatchiks (Trumpists).

As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often does rhyme.”

photo illustration courtesy of pixabay.com and Erika Wittlieb