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Comment by readitalready | Hacker News Reader

The specific issue that caused her to lose the election was her support for Israel. It was the largest reason that Biden 2020 voters didn't vote for Harris in 2024, per polls that specifically analyzed the causes of her loss. (not polls that took general moods or ideas)

Had she dropped support for Israel, she would have been president.

And going forward, there will never be a Democratic president that supports Israel's continued existence. The Democratic base is fully against Israel. We're just waiting for the politicians to catch up.

Edit: man some of you REALLY don't want Israel to be blamed for anything. Anyways, here's one poll clearly showing it was her support for Israel that cost her the most votes: https://www.imeupolicyproject.org/postelection-polling

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> The specific issue that caused her to lose the election was her support for Israel.

I'm american and I've never heard that.

I've only heard her total unwillingness to be interviewed without a script.

Perhaps what one hears varies across the country, of course.

I wouldn't expect everyone to know everything. But I follow all the polls. YouGov are some of the best.

Man after my own heart. I'm a statistician, and the data-free narratives on HN sometimes make me want to pull my hair out.

no kidding

good info: thanks as i'd not seen that (very randomly)

> I'm american and I've never heard that.

It's been in the news for a while.

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/22/dnc-2024-autopsy-harris-gaz...

upvote : thanks for the link.

i meant actually "hear" as in from the large number of americans i see weekly.

Which is crazy.

Democratic voters would rather have someone opposed to their values in power and make worse the issue they supposedly care about.

> And going forward, there will never be a Democratic president that supports Israel's continued existence. The Democratic base is fully against Israel. We're just waiting for the politicians to catch up.

Are you willing to put money on that?

Why would she lose the general Presidential election based solely on her pro-Israel stance, if Trump also had a pro-Israel stance at that time (and still does)? That explanation doesn't make sense.

Elections in the US are mostly decided by who can drive turnout.

It isn't that the people who would have voted for Kamala (if not for her stance on Israel) voted for Trump instead, they just didn't vote at all.

I wish potential voters like that put a little more effort into harm mitigation but history shows they dont.

It's because it's important to make sure anyone in office that supports Israel loses, EVEN IF their opponent also supports Israel.

The job of the voter is to make sure elected officials are held accountable. Remember, the voter decides based on what was already done, not what they say MIGHT be done in the future.

> Remember, the voter decides based on what was already done, not what they say MIGHT be done in the future.

How does that explain the outcome of Presidential elections that follow term limits? Donald Trump had no meaningful political record prior to the Republican primaries in 2015--and he was pro-Israel in his first term as well.

Stop thinking voters are rational.

I remember the pro Palestine groups were threatening to not vote for Kamala if the Dems didn’t push for a cease fire or whatever. All while the other side was Trump.

They didn’t go, “maybe we should do our best to prevent a worse situation“.

Even back then I had a gut feeling something like this would have cost the Dems the election.

People really need to stop saying Trump is worse than Kamala/Biden on Palestine.

Biden and the Democrats erased Palestine. There is nothing anymore that Trump could do about it. He can't resurrect the dead. Everything happened because of Democrats, not Trump.

Voters are very rational. They know that Democrats were the bad guys. It's why they currently have a 17% approval rating.

Let's all focus on removing the rest of the Democrats from power and replace them with true anti-Israel candidates. That's the only hope for a modern society.

I'm very confused by this comment. It sounds like satire, mixed with a few poll results (that lack context).

One of the most baffling things in modern history for sure. But some people did believe he would "bring peace to the Middle East".

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