To think Trump couldn’t be the better option.

I think we need to get past the ‘uneducated’ voter idea and consider the whys. The majority of PPs on here get it, but there are also the slightly hysterical posters who simply cannot and will not try to understand that others have a different view/ experience of the world to them.
I don’t like Trump, I wouldn’t have voted for him, but I can understand why people did. The X post up thread captured it perfectly.
I cannot begin to explain someone else’s experience and I am not condoning any behaviours, but I can see why people have voted for Trump.
The lefts view can appear to the underprivileged to be telling them what’s best for them. Having to pay more for energy because of climate change, paying more in taxes and then seeing illegal immigrants being given handouts. The right have given them the excuses, someone to blame. I am more central thinking than I have ever been in my life, having held left beliefs up until now.
nannying people while increasing the cost of living isn’t going to win over the people already struggling to make ends meet.
Stop thinking that you know what’s best for people and find out what they actually need and I think you’ll get more of an idea of why Trump got elected.

Want to add I'm originally from NYC area and I've known Trump to be a nasty racist grifter predator my whole life and personally know people with personal and business experiences of him in the 80s.

There is so much misinformation on this thread I can't begin to address it. But character matters to me and I can't you excuse Trump's fascist rhetoric.

The more I think about it, I think that the right wing better exploited big tech and big data targeting swing state voters favouring Trump on their personal hot issues and this was a determining factor nobody seems to mention. I'm American and in my anecdotal evidence of people I grew up with, Trump voters are either not very bright and easily manipulated, evangelical, greedy or just a$$holes. Facts don't seem to count.

The democrats failed to advertise the accomplishments of the Biden administration which should have been touted more - people were finally seeing positive changes in badly needed infrastructure and new manufacturing jobs but Trump was able to paint a more dystopian picture. Yes prices are high, but that's a global issue and is due to inflation (better in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world) and corporate price-gouging.

I voted against Trump but I'm so disappointed in my fellow Americans I'm ready to renounce as it is a major pain to be an American abroad and I'm done.

@Friedeggs9876 before he joined big pharma my brother was a pharmaceutical sciences Professor. He has done research on cancer drugs. His name is on a couple of patents and he has the trophy’s on his desk. So though a Trump supporter and money loving for sure he has made a huge difference to humanity with his teaching and research.

@downwindofyou I do not know any poor Americans. I can only give the perspective of knowing very successful non white immigrants. Overall Americans are not ashamed of having money. People want more money in their pocket. People on MN that announce they would happily pay more tax I don’t think that the majority feel that way especially in America. It is so culturally different.

Trump is obviously hideous for women’s rights but he’s against trans ideology.

Women's rights isn't just the right to abortion access. It's also the right to women-only spaces, women's sports, all the issues affecting women that the trans ideology affects. Those are women's rights too!

How does exporting our emissions to China whilst crushing British industry with punitive taxes and regulations help the climate? We're just creating more pollution by importing everything at huge cost from countries with terrible records whilst our quality of life craters, so that Miliband can pat himself on the back (whilst he claims his heating costs back via expenses).

I couldn’t be further from a Trump supporter and would never vote for a right wing party, but will try and put across a balanced view:

1. i don’t think the average American would be aware that issues such as recent inflation were a global issue and if they were I think they’d very much expect their administration to bring it under control. I also don’t think the average American would see the support given to Ukraine as ‘essential’ as Europeans tend, given they are not in Europe and the possibility of nuclear war with Russia is hardly going to be a voting issue at this time (might have figured 2 years ago)
2. I’d have thought following Tuesday that the criminal convictions and everything the democrat campaign says about Trump (ie wannabe fascist dictator) has been very much interpreted as a slur campaign against him and therefore not necessarily accepted as true. I think the generally accepted view here is that it is all true and most of what comes out of his mouth is complete crap but I think we have to accept that the majority in America seem to have a different take on it?
3. I also think that Americans (particularly right leaning) tend to take a less global view and individual freedom is much higher on the agenda, so concerns about the environment and global impact will be very low on the agenda for the average American. I think it is quite similar here in that most aren’t really concerned or aren’t willing to change voluntarily and the environment isn’t really a voting issue, but something global agreements must force governments to act to change behaviour.

Some poor Hispanics were interviewed on Sky. They were alarmed at the cost of living. It seemed to be about the economy.

Well , there were quite a few drug stories in Spare, weren't there? However, he's a white Prince, so he seems to get a pass.
We shall see.

But none of this explains why poor Americans vote for Trump. It is completely against their own self interest

Why do you believe this?

But aren't they/you concerned about issues like the rights of women? Women have already died as a result of not being able to access care when pregnant

The basic rights of 50% of the population supersedes everything else imo

In terms of finances, I'm nuts seeing how high tariffs will help the average American. Imports are not all able to be produced in the US by a long shot. So prices will increase enormously and choice will decrease. How is this serving average people?

That the only world leaders who support Trump are despots and dictators is surely a pretty huge red flag no?

But none of this explains why poor Americans vote for Trump. It is completely against their own self interest

Interesting view point. I'm being honest and to me it's abundantly obvious that Trump is not a legally sound individual and it doesn't take a lot of biased Democrat mud slinging to find things to convict him on. He has a history of non payment to creditors, lying, cheating and has dubious relationships with unsavoury leaders.
To me at least, it's puzzling how Trump supporters don't see this. If they were being honest with themselves it's more that they don't care

I voted for Trump via mail-in. Since you seem to have asked out of genuine curiosity:

My biggest issue is illegal immigration. I want immigration to be heavily restricted.

My hometown is close to Springfield Ohio. They dumped 20,000 Haitians in a town of 60,000 and it has been a disaster for locals. I see this (and Charleroi PA, where a town of 4,000 got 2,000 Haitians) and I know 1000% I do not want this for my hometown. Nobody wanted nor voted for this.

I also prefer lower taxes, as I don’t think public institutions are good at spending taxpayer money wisely. I have come to the conclusion that government money in things like higher education has only led to ever increasing costs with no better outcomes.

I am not overly concerned with climate change, as I think adapting via infrastructure is the better way to go. And I think Europe/UK is fucking moronic not to develop a fracking industry. You can see that carbon emissions have dropped along with that uptick in fracking because we’ve switched coal for cleaner gas.

We do not have to compromise our living standards to have cleaner air/water/good infrastructure.

And abortion is no longer a national issue. So the Deep South can wrestle with the question. For the rest of us, we can move onto other issues.

Yeah, you've missed the point. That's the false narrative the media has been spreading for years about Trump. They loved him until he decided to run for office with the Republicans. When over half of a country country votes for someone that you find abhorrent do you think the truth is that 70 million people are racist women haters or that the information you've been given is possibly false?

It's like asking Brexit supporters to come up with a comprehensive and realistic plan to leave the EU and benefit the UK.

That went swimmingly.

I don't think the questions in your post have ever been considered by the wide American voter. Its far more simple than that.

Many know he's a dreadful person but that's ignored in favour of .....

• when he was President they thought he did stuff that impacted them positively

• Americans are more generally dog eat dog, so they don't have as much investment in looking after others if their own nest is OK

• families and whole States are often strongly one party which means you've grown up being brain washed to it

• they see KH as ineffective in getting rid of Biden. Of working with him when he was clearly failing but not making a stand (I have some sympathy with that view but I doubt she could have had much sway tbh!)

• The past 4 years have been hard for a lot of working Americans. They want change and hope.this will offer it.

• Whilst they are proud to be leaders of the free world they still think of their country first and are not bothered by his impact around the world.

• there's still heavy prejudice country wide against women and colour, with just a few pockets where its more inclusive.

People voted for Trump because they wanted change. Harris represented a continuation of Biden's administration. If you don't like the current state of the country and the direction things are going, it makes sense to vote for an alternative.

It's the same reason people voted for Brexit in the UK. It's the same reason people voted for Starmer. Things are bad and they are getting worse. In US and UK elections there are realistically only two choices of party who will get into power. Vote for the same, don't be surprised if you get the same.

People don't have to think that the alternative is better. Many Trump voters loathe the man - it's not just MAGA conspiracy theorists who voted for him. Normal people did too, in great numbers.

Life is a gamble. In the US election the choice was

1. Vote for more of the same and get a continuing decline in living standards.
2. Vote for change, with a small chance of it getting better and a big chance of it getting even worse.

Only option 2 gives a hope of improvement.

HappiestSleeping · Yesterday 16:38
It was actually Trump supporters accusing the government of making the storms

I guess it’s an improvement on blaming “the gays”.

Trump won the popular vote by 5 million votes.

I forgot: Gender--Harris was all for men in women's sports and safe spaces, Trump will ban it.

1. Gaza--Dearborn, MI is the most Muslim city in the US. Biden won it in 2020 by 77%. Trump won it in 2024 by 7%. Trump had the endorsement of most Muslim community leaders, who stated that he was the best chance for peace in the Middle East.
2. Quality of Life--was, by any measure, better under Trump. Prices were lower, wages kept pace. Black and hispanic unemployment was the lowest in history. Black and hispanic wages relative to prices were the highest in history. The US economy under Biden was hurt by his restricting of domestic energy production and by his implementation of excess regulation which has hampered business.
3. Character/legal--The fact that the Special Prosecutor said immediately after Trump won that he was closing up shop shows that many/most of these prosecutions were political. In fact, none of the lawfare against Trump started until he declared his intention to run again. Trump's rape accuser has, over the years, accused several men of raping her, including a babysitter, her dentist, Les Moonves among others. She told Anderson Cooper that "most women think rape is sexy." The dress she said she was wearing during the "rape" was not made by the designer until years later. Her story of the "rape" followed the plot of an SVU episode almost exactly. It's all in the court testimony, but none of that mattered to a prosecutor who had run for office on getting Trump and then hand-selected a rabidly leftist NYC jury to convict him before a rabidly leftist judge.
4. Project 2025--is a white paper from a think tank. It is not and never has been Trump's platform, which is called Agenda 47 and has been on his website for months. The left, including the Harris campaign, lied repeatedly about that because abortion was the only issue she had.Yes, members of Trump's first admin worked on some parts of P2025, but that is what political types in DC do when their party is out of power. It is a far-right wish list, not a legitimate Republican policy proposal, and it never was a Rep policy proposal. Trump has disavowed P2025 on numerous occasions, and has clearly said that he WILL NOT SIGN an abortion ban even in the unlikely event that Congress passes one. Abortion is in the hands of the states, where it rightly belongs under the Constitution. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Roe v. Wade was bad law and that the matter should be left to the states.
5. Environment--Trump got the US out of the Paris Accords because they throttled American business while letting China pollute as much as it wanted. However, during the Trump admin US emissions actually WENT DOWN FURTHER than the Paris Accords would have required, because his business-oriented administration encouraged innovation. The environment is taken seriously in the US, but because we're American we believe in innovating new ways to live well and blunt the worse effects of climate change. Going back to caveman days and eating bugs isn't the answer, clean technology is. Trump understands that.

Yes, all my immigrant friends there voted for Trump. They are hard working people and are in shocked with the borders mess and the rights of people who just arrived after they have to go through so much criminals are being protected and not being allowed to be deported when raping and killing. They are all educated to post graduate levels and went in through legal routes. They see the streets becoming full of gangs from the countries they came from. Same fears about the place becoming lawless like back home in some of the very liberal blue states like California.

People did not fall for the apocalyptic propaganda and the celebrities tacky and cringy endorsements. They are hungry and cold and prefer money in the bank accounts. Kamala did not have a plan to tackle this and was playing campus politics. Joy and vibes. All very clear now after the analysis and demographics and how they voted. Feel free to open a discussion but it is all out in the papers.