WASHINGTON — Whereas inflation and immigration emerged because the dominant themes on this 12 months’s presidential race, one other difficulty was distinguished within the minds of voters for each main candidates: the stakes for democracy.
Half of voters recognized democracy as the only most vital motivating issue for his or her vote. That was greater than the share of voters who answered the identical means about inflation, the state of affairs on the U.S.-Mexico border, abortion coverage or free speech, in accordance with AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 voters nationwide.
Notably, backers of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, the president-elect, noticed the difficulty from totally different views.
About two-thirds of Harris voters stated the way forward for democracy was crucial issue for his or her votes. No different matter — excessive costs, abortion coverage, free speech or the potential of the primary girl to be elected as president — was as huge an element for her supporters. Harris particularly leaned into this messaging towards the tip of her marketing campaign: She stated Trump was a menace to undermine the nation’s founding beliefs and he or she referred to as him a fascist.
The sentiment was supported by former members of the primary Trump administration who warned about his health for workplace. Trump refused the peaceable switch of energy whereas mendacity about his loss within the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. And on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump additionally directed a mob of his supporters to the Capitol after telling them to “fight like hell.”
Audrey Wesley, 90, of Minneapolis cited Trump’s authorized instances and his disregard for the legislation as one of many causes she supported Harris.
“Our system is broken,” she stated.
Wesley stated one of many issues that troubled her most was Undertaking 2025, an in depth conservative blueprint for the following Republican administration. Trump has stated he had not learn the report, though many members of his first administration had a hand in creating it.
“That’s very scary as to what he wants to do,” Wesley stated.
The concept that democracy is underneath assault additionally motivated Trump voters, however in starkly alternative ways. About one-third of his supporters stated democracy was crucial issue for his or her vote.
An extra breakdown of the survey discovered that 9 in 10 Harris voters who indicated democracy was the only most vital issue of their vote had been considerably or very involved that electing Trump would convey the nation nearer to authoritarianism. About 8 in 10 Trump voters felt electing Harris would convey the nation nearer to authoritarianism. “Democracy voters” who supported Harris and Trump had been equally involved that the opposing candidate’s views had been too excessive.
The findings adopted a constant sample in latest surveys by AP VoteCast and The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis. Whereas democracy’s future has been one of many few crossover issues amongst a fractured voters, individuals have differed on why they’re fearful about it and who’s chargeable for the menace.
Debbie Dooley, 66, and a co-founder of the tea occasion motion, had a number of vital elements in her voting resolution, all resulting in concern over what would occur to the nation underneath one other Democratic administration.
“I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said when people fear their government, there is tyranny,” she stated. “We had tyranny under the Biden-Harris machine.”
Dooley, a longtime Trump supporter, cited the nation’s “open border” and issues by many conservatives about crimes attributable to migrants who had circumvented the legislation. The resident of Cumming, Ga., additionally agreed with Trump’s rivalry that the Biden administration had unleashed the Division of Justice on political adversaries.
“That’s something they do in Russia. That’s something they would do in China, not the United States, not here in the beacon of freedom for the world,” Dooley stated.
Republicans have held congressional hearings for practically two years however have supplied little substance to the declare that Biden has “weaponized” the division.
Like many different conservatives, Dooley additionally felt social media firms had silenced their voices, particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic.
”Thank God for Elon Musk,” she stated. “Twitter or X is a totally different place now than it was before he took over, so we have First Amendment rights. It’s free speech.”
The survey discovered that just about all “democracy voters” who supported Trump stated freedom of speech was no less than an element of their vote. It was a much less distinguished difficulty for Trump voters who stated democracy was a minor issue or not at an element of their alternative.
Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth Faculty, stated the opposing views about which aspect posed a menace to democracy are comprehensible as a result of each campaigns had spoken in regards to the different in these phrases. And since democracy is an summary difficulty, what constitutes a menace can fluctuate.
“Harris talked a lot about democracy, and the Democratic coalition talked a lot about the threats to democracy,” he stated. “So it’s not surprising that many Democrats correctly perceived Trump as a threat and name it as one of the most important issues.”
The truth that Republicans echoed the declare towards Harris would appear uncommon, however one in all Trump’s political methods is to applicable an assault towards him and switch it round towards his opponent. Nyhan stated Trump did that efficiently with the democracy argument.
Border safety, for instance, might imply one factor to a Harris backer and one thing fairly totally different to a Trump voter who may help the thought of the good substitute conspiracy idea — the notion that the affect of whites is being diminished via unlawful immigration.
In her concession speech at her alma mater, Howard College in Washington, Harris alluded to the significance of accepting election outcomes even in a loss and peacefully transferring energy, which Trump has conditioned on whether or not he would view the election final result as honest.
“That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny,” Harris stated.
Leah Wright Rigueur, a historical past professor on the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins College, stated the processes of democracy as expressed via the presidential vote gained, for now.
“The 2024 presidential election was fundamentally, as far as I understand, an example of democracy in action. Trump won the Electoral College. Trump won the popular votes,” she stated.
The query is whether or not the nation could be as peaceable if the end result had been totally different and the way does the nation shut that fissure sooner or later when a “very vocal cross section” of the American public sees democracy working solely “when my side wins, but tyranny when your side wins”?