Democrats improved with one group: Rich people!

There is one exit poll crossstab from Tuesday's election that the media isn't talking about, and it's possibly the most important.

Now that Election Day has come and gone, and Donald Trump has been elected yet again as president, trying to understand the reason “why” Democrats got wiped out nationwide are starting to bubble to the surface. Yes, some people are going back to the well of racism, sexism, or whatever “opinion” they have, but there are other, quantitative reasons, that Trump won (or Democrats lost).

The one that is getting the most media attention is the shifting of Hispanic voters over to the Republicans. According to NBC’s exit polls from 2020 and 2024, Hispanic voters went from supporting Joe Biden with 65% of their vote to only 52% for Kamala Harris. As far as black and white voters, the numbers barely moved.

However, there is one crosstab that isn’t being discussed, and more than likely being on purposely ignored: income.

One of the arguments made before the election was that the Democrats were touting the “great Biden economy” yet were absolutely oblivious to the reality of the average middle-class American’s financial struggle. This was a problem that was so apparent, I even wrote about it all the way back in May.

The Democrats could list off jobs’ numbers and growth in the GPD but couldn’t’ tell you how much the cost of a gallon of milk was. This was the Democrats slow-moving train wreck. But once the dust settled, and all the exit poll data was in, one of the biggest shifts that we saw was connected to income.

So that you can see the numbers, here’s the link for the 2020 exit poll, and here is the link for the 2024 exit poll.

First, let’s start with lower and middle-income Americans, basically those making under $100k per year. Amongst those who made less than $30k a year, Democrats lost 4% according to the exit poll (54% for Biden, to 50% for Harris). As for those who made $30k to $50k, Democrats lost a whopping 11% (56% for Biden, 45% for Harris). And for those who made between $50k and $100k, Democrats also lost 11% (57% for Biden, 46% for Harris).

The three groups mentioned above are struggling with inflation. It’s not just the cost of milk, but also the cost of transportation, healthcare (if they are lucky enough), rent, and other necessities in life. These voters didn’t care about GDP or “jobs numbers”, they cared about making sure that they could feed, clothe, and shelter their families.

To add to that, 46% of Americans said that their financial situation was worse than it was four years ago, and supported Donald Trump with 81% of their vote! When asked if “inflation cause you or your family hardship”, 22% said “severe hardship” (which broke toward Trump 74% to 24%), with 53% saying moderate hardship (breaking toward Trump 51% to 45%).

Clearly, we can see that inflation was a major issue, and the voters didn’t give a damn about GDP growth. They cared about the cost of living.

But this is only part of the story. Let’s look at those making over $100k per year. Basically, the people who have tons of money invested and not feeling the financial pinch of inflation.

Voters who made between $100k to $200k INCREASED their support for Democrats. Joe Biden received 41% of this group’s support in 2020, while Kamala Harris received 51%, a 10% increase. Of those who made over $200k, Biden netted 44% support, with Kamala Harris increasing to 51%, a 7% increase.

When looking at the exit polls, the only group of people that Democrats saw a significant increase in support from was rich voters. This explains why when Bernie Sanders published his open letter to the Democratic Party, many Democrats seemed to be angrier at him than at Trump.

Pure and simple, the Democrats have become the rich elitist party, losing all sense of economic awareness. They’ve gone from the fighter of the middle-class, to the party of the those who have tons of money invested in the stock market. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Democrats always tout the stock market as another “indicator” of the economy doing well. Sorry Democrats, but most people don’t have that kind of money to invest, they are buying food.

With this, the Democrats are truly at a fork in the road. Do they continue to ignore the economic suffering of the average working American, by quoting useless GDP statistics that do nothing to instill a sense of economic security, or do they start fighting to recapture the forgotten voters? Because we all know Trump isn’t going to do anything for them, but the Democrats seem not so different.