My conversation with a shy Trump voter taught me why Harris lost
Democrats did not or could not do enough to counter misconceptions about economics amplified by Trump allies
As the results of the 2024 US presidential election rolled in, I was shocked. Trump had not only won the electoral college, he also won the popular vote for the first time — by nearly three million votes. After a conversation with a shy Trump voter, I think I understand why.
I have cerebral palsy, wse a wheelchair, and go to physical therapy once a week nearly every week. I’ve known my physical therapist for years. Nearly all of his patients have some form of disability that he treats with expertise and care. He’s also a very devout Catholic with a large family. He and his wife homeschool their kids. With his combination of a conservative religious background, high education, and support for marginalized groups, I was genuinely curious about how he was feeling about the election the first Thursday after the results had come in. I started off by saying, “I still can’t believe Trump’s first campaign in 2016 didn’t end after he mocked that disabled reporter.” The PT replied, “Well, sometimes people vote for the platform, not the person.” He had voted for Trump. He elaborated by saying he doesn’t like the man, wouldn’t put a Trump sign in his yard, and didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 because he was disgusted by him.
So what led my PT to hold his nose and cast a ballot for Trump? Economics. “It was easier to support my family when Trump was in office.”
There are two age-old sayings in US presidential races that apply here. “It’s the economy, stupid.” and “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” For many Americans and their families, the answer to that question is a resounding “No!”
Despite the unemployment rate being at its lowest point in ten years, the cost of food has risen sharply. For example, the price of eggs increased 139% between October 2020 and October 2024, compared to only 1% between October 2016 and October 2020. The cause of this increase isn’t related to any Biden or Trump policy. It is the result of price gouging above the rate of inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, which grocery store executives have admitted to.
| Item | Oct. 2016 | Oct. 2020 | Change from 2016 to 2020 | Oct. 2024 | Change 2020 to 2024 | Difference in change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bananas, per lb. | $0.75 | $0.58 | -23% | $0.62 | 7% | 30% |
| Bread, white, pan, per lb. | $1.34 | $1.50 | 12% | $1.94 | 29% | 17% |
| Tomatoes, field grown, per lb. | $1.99 | $1.91 | -4% | $1.98 | 4% | 8% |
| Chicken, fresh, whole, per lb. | $1.50 | $1.58 | 5% | $1.99 | 26% | 21% |
| Electricity per KWH | $0.13 | $0.14 | 8% | $0.18 | 29% | 21% |
| Eggs, grade A, large, per doz. | $1.39 | $1.41 | 1% | $3.37 | 139% | 138% |
| Gasoline, unleaded regular, per gallon | $2.24 | $2.16 | -4% | $3.28 | 52% | 55% |
| Ground chuck, 100% beef, per lb. | $3.74 | $4.21 | 13% | $5.59 | 33% | 20% |
| Utility (piped) gas per therm | $0.96 | $1.07 | 11% | $1.42 | 33% | 21% |
| Milk, fresh, whole, fortified, per gal. | $3.29 | $3.83 | 16% | $4.04 | 5% | -11% |
Source: Average price data (in U.S. dollars), selected items, U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics
A president cannot act on their own to address issues like price gouging. That requires Congress to pass legislation for the president sign into law. Republican politicians know this of course but would rather block legislation that helps so they can campaign on the problems that Biden can’t fix. This happened most recently when Republicans killed a bipartisan border security bill at the last minute, allowing Trump to make continue making immigration a key part of his campaign.
“It’s true that food prices have soared”, I said, “but that is due to price gouging by greedy corporations, not Biden. Just like how people have been blaming whoever the sitting president is for the price of gas for decades.”
“Well, he did stop the [Keystone XL] pipeline”, he countered.
“Actually, domestic oil production is at an all-time high. Biden’s administration also did things to help lower the cost of drugs [for people on Medicare]”, I said. I forgot to mention that not a single Republican in the House of Representatives voted for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which among other things, allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. Only eight House Republicans voted to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 – but that didn’t stop the others from taking credit for projects that it funded in their states.
Then he said something that hit me hard and made it all click: “She didn’t make that case and she didn’t have much time. It was all about how she wasn’t Trump.”, and he was right. I had only heard Harris compare her and Trump’s economic plans once, and that was during their debate. She mentioned the open letter signed by 16 Nobel laureates that warns “There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets”. Harris’ economic policy proposals covered everything from food prices, to housing and medical costs. Everything that the PT was concerned about.
Trump’s economic plan is simply to cut taxes and place tariffs across the board, which will only increase inflation. Trump has no incentive to work with Congress to address the cost of living. He got what he wanted. He’s immune from federal prosecution now, and states can’t arrest a sitting president. He’s free to do whatever he wants. He can’t serve more than two terms, so he has no need to do anything that might broaden his appeal to voters.
“You’re right”, I said. “Most of the messaging from her campaign [and her allies] was about how unfit Trump is for office. That resonates with people like me who follow politics closely, but not for others. The threat to democracy was my main concern.”
To that, he replied “They said he was going to be a fascist dictator in 2016, and he wasn’t.”
My immediate thought was to say “Did you forget about the attempted coup he led on January 6th, 2021?” Instead, I explained “That’s only because he and those closest to him had no idea what they were doing. Now with Project 2025 and Schedule F, he has a roadmap for replacing federal civil servants with people who are loyal to him above all else. I also worry for the people of Ukraine.”
He replied, “I’d rather see all the money we are sending them go towards clothing and feeding our own people.”
I said, “I understand that. What a lot of people don’t understand is that most of the aid to Ukraine comes in the form of money to buy US weapons. The money goes right back into our economy.” Then I addressed feeding and clothing, saying “I just don’t understand how Christians can support a man who is literally the opposite of everything Jesus taught about loving your neighbor, and supporting the oppressed and marginalized.” I also should have mentioned that Republicans plan to reduce food assistance programs here in the US.
He tried to assure me, “There are plenty of people of the other side [of politics] who are disgusted by him.” Then he said with a smile, “For an atheist, you sure talk about Jesus a lot.” We ended the physical therapy session by thanking each other for being able to talk about religion and politics together.
I think there a lot of genuinely good people like my PT who may or may not lean conservative that don’t pay much attention to politics. They follow the American tradition of attributing the state of the economy – good or bad to whoever is in the White House. The stock market rallied after Trump was declared the winner, but the stock market is based on the view of investors, not the overall health of the economy. It’s a sign that investors expect Trump and Republicans will continue to take a hands-off approach to business and allow greed to flourish at the expense of everyday Americans.
Uninformed citizens probably don’t know that Trump will have much less restrictions in his next term than his first. For starters, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for the actions they take while in office, even after they leave office. They probably don’t know that Trump has promised to use the powers of the precedency to get revenge against a long list of political enemies, or that his transition team plans to try to courts-martial military leaders to distract from the fact that that Trump was the one who reached an agreement with the Taliban 2020 to withdrawal all US troops from Afghanistan, or that he promised Christians they won’t have to vote again if he got back in office. They probably don’t know that Trump’s unqualified cabinet nominees include someone being investigated for sex with underage girls for Attorney General, and a Fox News host for Secretary of Defense. As one commentator explains, there’s a reason why Trump wants fewer adults in the room. They probably don’t know how Trump’s reelection has emboldened hate groups and led to a spike in calls to a crisis hotline for LGBTQ youth.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the causes of an uninformed/misinformed electorate: Elon Musk bought Twitter, turned it into X, and allowed disinfomation to run rampant. The media was too obsessed with the latest Trump drama to give the Biden/Harris campaigns the space to make their case. The Russian government and others ran influence operations. Biden’s disastrous debate performance leading to a last-minute candidate change. But most of all, the Biden/Harris campaign messaging didn’t focus on economics, spend enough time calling out greedy corporations for price gouging, or explain to the American people that those issues can’t be fixed without a democratic president and democratic Congress, because it turns out there are a lot of americans who don’t know how their government works. I wonder how many of them will regret their vote. Hopefully Democrats can connect with them better next time around.