2024 US election comments | Spoiler it wasn’t about Trump
I wrote this post a few months ago on my now retired wordpress site. But I wanted to share the story here as I think it paints an interesting picture in history. Maps are funny. They have the ability to give a compelling visisual. But the devil is always in the details. Today is a great example. On the surface, you would think the 2024 election was a blowout. By some estimates it was, case closed. But if you look deeper, there’s another story to tell…
7 States to rule them all
During the 2024 election, the seven key swing states were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These states were crucial in determining the outcome of the election, and all of them ultimately went to the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. But there is a HUGE omission on this map.
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Given the tight margins in these states, a 2–3% increase in Democratic voter turnout could have potentially altered the overall election results, leading to a different outcome in the Electoral College. But there’s more…
Within the 2024 US election results, (3) blue states (New Mexico, Virginia, Minnesota) would have flipped to red with a rough 2% or more voter turnout on the right. These states could be in play next election cycle assuming the economy shows signs of improvement. So it appears as if we are growing more swing states, as of now. But things could drasticallybased change based on one single thing, or at least the perception of that given thing. That is the fancy word, the economy.
That topic, ‘economy’ was the overwhelming reason why people voted. Over 70% of those who voted sited the economy as their reason. The classic saying from 30 years ago still rings true, ‘it’s the economy stupid.’ That was from Bill Clinton’s advisor. This election was less about Trump and more of an inditement, or the failure from the last four years. But Trump instilled enough confidence, or was ‘hired’ to fix a mess. It’s that simple. What an amazing episode of the show America written by God. And the next time you see a fancy chart or graph, focus on the omissions. Meaning, what isn’t on this particular visual. Chances are, there’s a story to tell there too.
Reference — https://www.270towin.com/maps/2024-actual-electoral-map
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