Experts on why Harris didn’t pull the female vote

Women did not vote for Democrat Kamala Harris because her campaign was out of touch with reality in America, experts say.

Economics and their livelihoods, not women’s issues, are the priority for Americans.

North-West University’s international relations expert Dr Jan Venter said US citizens were, in the main, conservative and they wanted conservative issues prioritised.

So Harris’ “woke” message did not resonate with the voters.

ALSO READ: Cheers and dismay mark Trump’s win

Liberal views don’t resonate with voters

Venter strongly believed that economic issues were most important to American voters and this is what made president-elect Donald Trump more popular than Harris.

Despite her pro-women campaign emphasising abortion among other issues, women did not support Harris in large enough numbers.

This was similar to their lack of support for Hillary Clinton in 2016 in her presidential race against Donald Trump. With women constituting 51.1% of the US population, many had expected Harris to perform very well because of her women-focused campaign.

Venter said both Harris and Clinton had liberal viewpoints which did not resonate with the majority of American voters.

“If you look at the American news, if you look at Hollywood, if you look at the people, at the headlines, they are very liberal. But, in reality, the American voter seems to be very conservative.

“So the so-called pro-women issues do not rate as highly as, for instance, economic growth or some of the more basic centres of life that the Trump campaign focused on,” Venter said.

He said the women who had entered the US presidential elections stood for societal and progressive change, not conservative values.

This was the case with both Hillary Clinton and Harris, who were also backed by liberals including celebrities like the Obamas and the Clintons. But it did not work, as Harris said in her speech conceding defeat.

ALSO READ: Comeback kid Trump’s return to White House stuns many

Jobs and family come first in America

“In reality, the American voters are worried about their jobs, the well-being of their families, the economy and the bread-and-butter stuff. That is important to them.

“So, Kamala Harris and her party are not the only people at fault in this election,” he said.

Harris, her team and the Democrats made a huge miscalculation in the form of a “very liberal experiment” that has been going on for about 10 years now in the US.

That liberal experiment can be called the “woke movement” and it simply does not resonate deeply with the American electorate.

Independent political analyst Sandile Swana said now that Donald Trump was back in power, he would continue with his political deal-making.

He said Trump uses the economy and diplomacy to play his game.

“The war effort in Ukraine is likely to lessen and, in fact, it must just end in Trump’s America.

“While he will be ending that war, he will be escalating the trade war with China. He will pull Russia to himself while he frustrates China and even creates tension between China and Japan,” Swana said.

He might try to pit Japan against China, without the US being involved in the fight, merely to destabilise China’s economy.

Trump would attempt to avoid military spending that will not benefit America because he is an inward looking leader, Swana added.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s message to Trump