I do not blame voters for not choosing Harris. A lot of Democrats did not and do not like her. And even then, Trump got only 1 1/2% more popular votes. I was not referring to the general election in 2024. I was referring to the Republican presidential primaries in 2023-24. I will never understand Republican voters not going with one of the many other options in 23-24. His job approval rating in the 2018 midterm was 43.5%, around 5 points higher than it is today.
I'm sort of a student of economics. I said in the early 2020s that inflation goes in cycles and that we had begun an inflationary cycle. "Mrs Satterfield" made fun of me for saying that. But it's true. We are going to have elevated inflation for quite awhile. I don't see that changing. That said, Trump's tariffs and the Iran War have exacerbated inflation. Most of the Democrats who won were not DSA types. For example, Andrews comes from a Republican family, Roy Cooper, a former NC Governor, Sherrod Brown, former Ohio Senator, etc
Inflation, yes that hurt the GOP. But Trump is underwater on immigration by 11.1% and on crime by 7.3%. Obviously, we will never know but, I suspect if Republican voters had gone with one of the other options, I don't believe things would have been as bad for the GOP like it was this past Tuesday.