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HOW DID THE VOTE SHIFT FOR TRUMP IN 2024? ASK YOUR POLITICS QUESTIONS.


POST REPORTERS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS DURING A LIVE
CHAT ON FRIDAY AT 11 A.M. ET.

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
, 
Brianna Tucker
, 
Patrick Marley
, 
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
, 
Colby Itkowitz
and 
Alexandra Pannoni
November 8, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. EST
223

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Washington Post journalists Cleve Wootson, Brianna Tucker, Patrick Marley, Colby
Itkowitz and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez answered your questions about the election
of Donald Trump to the presidency. Questions may be edited for accuracy and
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About this live chat
Washington Post journalists Cleve Wootson, Brianna Tucker, Patrick Marley, Colby
Itkowitz and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez answered your questions about the election
of Donald Trump to the presidency. Questions may be edited for accuracy and
clarity.
About this live chat
Washington Post journalists Cleve Wootson, Brianna Tucker, Patrick Marley, Colby
Itkowitz and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez answered your questions about the election
of Donald Trump to the presidency. Questions may be edited for accuracy and
clarity.
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Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:00 p.m.
Link

Hi. I’m Patrick Marley, part of The Post’s democracy team. I’m based in
Wisconsin, and I spent election night in Milwaukee’s absentee ballot-counting
center. It was a late night (or rather, an early morning) because of state laws
that prevent election officials from processing absentee ballots before Election
Day.

Wisconsin is one of the most purple states. Just as with Pennsylvania and
Michigan, Trump won it in 2016, lost it in 2020 and won it back on Tuesday.


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Cleve Wootson


5:00 p.m.
Link

Hi all. I’m Cleve Wootson, and I cover the White House, with a specific focus on
the vice presidency of Kamala Harris, which became a much bigger news story four
months ago. I’ve been pinballing around the country, following Harris for the
past few months, and am slowly re-learning what it’s like to wake up in my own
bed.


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CG

Donald Trump’s access to the White House
Claude Gravel


5:01 p.m.
Link
How is it that a criminal can gain access to the White House. Is there nothing
in the Constitution of the U.S. to protect the people from this happening?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:01 p.m.

There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents someone who has been
convicted of a crime from becoming president. The Constitution says someone can
serve as president as long as they are at least 35, a natural-born citizen and a
resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

The 14th Amendment bars someone from serving if they engaged in insurrection
after having previously taken an oath to the Constitution. Critics of Donald
Trump argued he had engaged in insurrection before and during the attack on the
U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and sued to keep him off the ballot. Initially,
the Colorado Supreme Court agreed and removed him from the ballot in that state.
Soon after, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states didn't have the authority to
keep candidates off the ballot under the 14th Amendment, and he was allowed to
run in Colorado and every other state.


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Joe Biden
Guest


5:04 p.m.
Link
How much responsibility does Joe Biden bear for this loss?


Cleve Wootson


5:04 p.m.

I think that question will be best answered by historians at some point. But in
the post-election finger pointing, a lot of folks have waxed philosophically
about whether things would’ve gone differently if Biden had dropped out of the
race earlier, giving Harris more time to make her case to the American people.
And he is President, so his agenda is Harris’s agenda, and she had to explain
that to voters over the past four months. But I feel like all of this will be a
debate America and Democrats have for quite a long time.


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Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
5:08 p.m.
Link

Hello from battleground Arizona, where ballots are still being counted and some
key races are hanging in the balance. I’m Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, a democracy
reporter based in Phoenix. Four years ago, after Joe Biden won the state, I was
writing about litigation and complaints brought by the GOP about the way the
election was run. This year, it’s eerily quiet on the legal front since Donald
Trump is leading the state’s vote count. Here’s a picture from election day,
where I spent the morning talking with fired-up GOP and Democratic voters in
Phoenix. Music was blaring, people were smiling and everyone, it seemed, was
holding their breath for an outcome.


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Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
5:08 p.m.
Link

Hi everyone! I’m Colby Itkowitz, a reporter on our democracy team, with a focus
on Pennsylvania, which is where I was born and raised. (Shout out to Lancaster,
Pa., the coolest downtown in America!) I’ve spent a large part of my career
focused on PA politics, a state that even after all these years can still
surprise me. I was in the Philly area for the days leading up to the election
and on Election Day. I missed seeing Paul Rudd on Villanova’s campus by about
five minutes.


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The future
Guest


5:13 p.m.
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I’m ignorant of exactly what kind of power a president can wield. Can he truly
destroy the government and push us into chaos, as he and his spokespeople
promised? Are we to assume that the lawmakers and courts will fully support him
in this? I need reassurance.


Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:13 p.m.

The president has vast power but not unlimited power. Trump can make some
unilateral changes but would need Congress to pass legislation for some of what
he wants. Republicans will control the Senate, and if they retain the House,
Trump will have a much easier time getting what he wants. (Votes are still being
tallied in key House races.)

The more controversial actions Trump takes, the more likely he is to face
litigation. The Supreme Court is conservative – Trump nominated three of the
nine justices – but that doesn’t mean he’ll always get his way.

Trump is very well situated given the makeup of the other branches of
government. Whether he faces much pushback from conservatives remains to be
seen. Many of the congressional Republicans who stood up to him in the past are
no longer in office.


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MA

Voter fraud
Miniature American Flags For Others


5:14 p.m.
Link
How was the 2016 election free of voter fraud, the 2020 rife with voter fraud,
and the 2024 election miraculously free of voter fraud?
It’s just so hard to figure out?


Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
5:14 p.m.

Thanks for your great question. It’s something my colleagues and I, on The
Washington Post’s democracy team, had been covering for months leading up to
this election. Trump and his allies, like Elon Musk, made it clear they were
laying the groundwork to undermine the results if Trump lost. As recently as
Tuesday afternoon, Trump was posting about massive cheating in Philadelphia and
that law enforcement was on its way. Then, as you point out, as soon as he won,
all talk of voter fraud in the presidential election went away. As one election
official told me, it seems there is only election fraud when the election
doesn’t go Trump’s way. My team wrote a story about this on Wednesday, which you
can read here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/06/voter-fraud-trump/
Republican election denial claims take a hiatus with Trump’s victory

The true test of a democracy is accepting the result even when the other side
wins, say election officials and some Democratic leaders
FULL STORY

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DG

Voters swinging?
Dave G


5:20 p.m.
Link
Did voters “swing” right? Or did we just see lower turnout relative to 2020,
where the turnout gap was wider for Dems than for GOP. Did voters who had voted
for Biden shift to Trump? Or did voters who had voted for Biden simply stay home
this time?


Cleve Wootson


5:20 p.m.

So a couple things to this. First a grain of salt: I do think we can sometimes
read the numbers as a fluid shift from one direction to another when other
issues might be at play. It could be that Republicans were particularly enthused
-- and have been since Trump was defeated in 2020 -- and that Democrats weren't
particularly enthused for Harris. But I think it's important to note that there
were shifts in a wide range of groups toward Trump, like Latino voters, that may
be indicative of larger cultural shifts that are yet to be explored.


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PS

Fraud Perpetrated UPON Voters
Pam Sloane


5:23 p.m.
Link
Who is investigating the impact of reducing voter lists? There was indeed “voter
fraud” when hundreds of thousands of voters, largely people of color, were
stripped of their rights in red states when they were illegally removed from the
voting lists.


Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:23 p.m.

The voter rolls are maintained by each state, and voter registration laws differ
substantially from one to another. Some states require voters to be registered
weeks before an election; others – such as Michigan and Wisconsin – allow voters
to register at the polls. These same-day registration laws give voters a chance
to vote if they believe they have been taken off the rolls improperly.

A federal law bars states from making wholesale changes to their voter rolls in
the 90 days before an election. That prevents state officials from taking a
swath of voters off the rolls at the last minute. States have to have a reason
for taking people off the rolls, such as because a voter has moved, has died,
has been convicted of a crime or has not participated in recent elections.

This year, Alabama and Virginia took steps to remove voters from the rolls
because they were suspected of being noncitizens. A federal judge stopped
Alabama from running its program because the secretary of state started it too
close to the election. The Supreme Court allowed Virginia to run its program.

Noncitizen voting is rare. Courts have found few noncitizens on the rolls, and
those who are were sometimes placed on there because of administrative error.


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22nd amendment
Guest


5:24 p.m.
Link
Could Trump repeal the 22nd Amendment?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:24 p.m.

Presidents cannot repeal any constitutional amendments. That includes the 22nd
Amendment, which limits presidents to two full terms in office.

The only way to repeal an amendment is to pass a new amendment. Passing an
amendment is extremely difficult. Congress must pass an amendment by a
two-thirds vote and three-quarters of the states must ratify it. (Under an
alternative route – one that has never been used – two-thirds of the states can
call a constitutional convention to consider amendments; three-quarters of the
states must approve any amendments.)


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Brianna Tucker

Deputy Politics Editor, NextGen
5:25 p.m.
Link

Howdy folks. I’m Brianna Tucker, a deputy campaign editor on the politics team,
but I’ve also been out on the trail for the past few weeks reporting on Harris,
Trump, and Black women voters in Georgia. I spent Election Day covering voters
and the Harris campaign at Howard University. I look forward to taking your
questions.


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MI

Right wing media and podcasters
Michael


5:27 p.m.
Link
My 20 year-old son’s friends have all moved to right and a lot of it is this
ultra-masculine attitude prevalent on social media. It seems that the right wing
has a huge advantage when it comes to talk radio and podcasts as well as the
huge megaphone with X and Fox News. How much of a factor do we feel that has and
what do you with the win and what should Democrats do to make this a more equal
playing field?


Cleve Wootson


5:27 p.m.

Some of these questions are above my paygrade, and I’m hesitant to dip a toe in
without a philosophy degree. I do believe that Republicans have an advantge when
it comes to the megaphone that is Fox News and X – something that is unmatched
on the Democratic side. It also allows them to tap into a broad range of
audiences, including the sizable number of young male voters who gave Trump a
significant edge. But I don’t know how or whether Democrats would attempt to
even that playing field. Start their own social media site? Bolster partisan
networks and label them as news? I think that’s a slippery slope that sort of
gets into competing propaganda. And I wonder if there are other ways of
addressing Democrats’ weaknesses without rejiggering the playing field writ
large, like having better messengers.


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LA

Effectiveness of congressional action
Laura


5:31 p.m.
Link
It seems like Congress and some states are trying to curb Trump’s future
behavior by legislative means. Will it even happen and if it does, will it work
once he’s crowned King, er, inaugurated?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
5:31 p.m.

Trump takes office on Jan. 20. It’s hard to see Congress passing anything that
would curb his powers between now and then. Republicans control the House and
would be unlikely to approve anything like that.

Some states, however, will try to limit what Trump can do. California Gov. Gavin
Newsom (D) called a special session of the legislature Thursday to try to
“Trump-proof” the state’s policies. That would include giving more funding to
the state attorney general to fight the Trump administration in court.


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JB

The Pandemic That Never Was
Joseph Britt


5:33 p.m.
Link
When covid arrived a year before he left office, Donald Trump failed at managing
the government’s response and hundreds of thousands of Americans died. It did
him no political damage. How do you explain that?


Cleve Wootson


5:33 p.m.

So I’d push back on the “no political damage” aspect. He lost the 2020 election.
But there has been a question of the “Trump amnesia” phenomenon – whether folks
have forgotten some of the difficulties of the first Trump era, and look at it
in a more positive light. Maybe that’s just the passage of time, or a (somewhat
successful) attempt to rebrand the Trump years.


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Should the results of the election come as a surprise for the Democratic Party?
Guest


5:37 p.m.
Link
As someone who was probably more optimistic than I should’ve been leading up to
the election, the results of the election, particularly with Harris getting far
fewer votes across the board in this election than Biden did in 2020, were
shocking to me. The results indicate to me that there’s more fault to be placed
on the Democratic Party and Harris’s campaign than credit to be given to the
Republicans and Trump’s campaign. I thought that, especially with all of the
racism and misogyny that surrounded Trump’s campaign in its closing weeks (not
to mention his felony conviction), the American people would have voted against
him purely to keep him out of office. It seems that many people decided not to
vote at all, or to vote for a third-party candidate in protest. What else should
Harris and the Democratic Party have done to highlight to voters the danger in
electing Trump?


Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
5:37 p.m.

I don’t think you’re alone at all going into Election Day thinking Harris would
win. Count me among those who spent time in the Philly area in the days leading
up to the election where there I saw some signs of optimism on her side. I’ve
thought about this a lot since Tuesday night, and I’m not a political pundit, I
cover voting issues, but I’m not sure there’s a lot more Harris and the Dems
could have done to present Trump as a danger and a threat. They were pretty
explicit. After Trump’s nine years in politics, it was also pretty clear to most
people who Trump was and what he stood for and they elected him anyway. The
question Democrats must ask themselves now is both why that is and how they can
win back the voters that decided all the negativity around Trump was still the
better choice to lead the country.


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I am Hispanic. Trump and his allies called us garbage, criminals, rapists, etc.,
and yet he won
Guest


5:40 p.m.
Link
Trump won a huge majority of Hispanics’ votes. I can’t comprehend this at all.


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
5:40 p.m.

Hi, Guest. This is a big topic at the top of a lot of peoples’ minds. I spent a
lot of time talking to voters in Arizona, which has a large Latino population.
One key theme I kept hearing: many of those voters did not feel better off in
their day-to-day lives under Biden-Harris compared to when they did during the
Trump administration. They were spending more money on groceries and gas; they
didn’t have the means to give their kids the kind of opportunities they hoped
for. They said buying homes, vehicles or luxuries (like vacations) were out of
reach. A lot of these voters just felt like it was time for change – and they
are counting on Trump to make good on his promises to make their day-to-day
lives easier and more affordable.


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AL

Regarding the cautiousness of Harris’s campaign
Akemi Liz


5:42 p.m.
Link
Why do you think it was so difficult for Harris to remove herself from Joe Biden
as an entity, and why was she so silent and cautious on issues she’d normally
talk about? Things like Palestine, the recession that was avoided during the
pandemic, etc.


Cleve Wootson


5:42 p.m.

Good question. Harris has always been a cautious politician, and folks have
criticized that caution, but it has also gotten her very far in politics – a
heartbeat away from the presidency, a barrier-breaking Democratic nominee. So,
it’s not too much of a stretch to think that she would stick to a strategy that
has brought her so much success. For most politicians, wading into controversy
can be a double-edged sword, and Harris sought at every turn to stress the
benefits that she would bring to everyday Americans, over taking on riskier
topics.


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SC

Democracy and rule of law
Solipsistic Cat


5:47 p.m.
Link
Did American voters really ignore the fact that Trump fomented the violent Jan.
6th insurrection; tried to stay in power with a fraudulent plate of electoral
votes; incited the mob; colluded with authoritarian head of states like Putin
and saluted North Korean generals; stole highly classified documents and then
obstructed justice by directing his employees to hide them?
Do these voters know the value of democracy, because once gone, it may not come
back without bloodshed, as the War of Independence has shown us?


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
5:47 p.m.

Hey there, Solipsistic Cat. I can’t answer for all American voters. What I can
say is that a lot of Republican and independent voters that I’ve spent time
talking to feel like the aftermath of the 2020 election is a distant past that
doesn’t affect their lives. Many are more concerned about their day-to-day lives
and what their futures look like. Moreover, many feel as though the probes into
the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the classified documents allegations
were politically-driven.


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DI

Trust in Dems a problem
DC in DC


5:49 p.m.
Link
I’m a liberal who supported swapping Harris for Biden in July, thinking it was
the only way to win. But looking back, do you think the way it happened may have
hurt Democrats more?

Before the debate, polls showed Biden’s age was a top concern, and then when
Harris took over, it was essentially a non-story.

Stepping into the ballot box I’m wondering how many people thought why would I
put my faith in Democrats when they lied about Biden for months (or years) and
then played it off like it did not matter?

They essentially ran a campaign on there is “nothing wrong with the president”
until there was everything wrong with the president, flipping on a dime. How
would that make a complete undecided independent feel?


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
5:49 p.m.

Hi, from Arizona, DC in DC! A lot of voters I talk to – from Democrats to
independents to moderate Republicans who supported Joe Biden in 2020 – feel like
it was super unfair and hypocritical for the party that has spent so much time
talking about democratic norms to simply up and replace Biden with Harris. It
turned off a lot of independent and GOP voters who had been open to voting for
the Democratic ticket up until then because it felt like their party was being
hypocritical. It just didn’t feel fair to them.


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TO

Major factor ignored by most of the media…
Todd


5:51 p.m.
Link
Why does most of the media refuse to acknowledge that Kamala Harris being a
woman who is also Black/Indian had a MAJOR impact on Trump’s win? She started at
a deficit because lots of people would NEVER vote for a woman and lots would
NEVER vote for a non-white person. Isn’t this true?


Cleve Wootson


5:51 p.m.

Some slight pushback. A large part of what I’ve done over the past four years
covering Harris is trying to explain the role race, gender, misogyny, etc., play
in how voters make their decisions. It is tough but important work – tough for
pollsters to suss out, tough to even get answers from the hundreds of voters we
talk to, because who wants to say “Why, yes, I am sexist?” Articulating the role
that bias plays in decision making is vital, but hard. One of the things that
was interesting about the 2020 race was that it was the most diverse primary
field in Democratic history, and ended with a White man, a mostly establishment
candidate winning the primary and the presidency, so that seems like at least a
tacit recognition of the kind of candidate some voters think is needed to
overcome bias and win the White House. But it is exceedingly difficult, and very
painstaking to be both authoritative and responsible in addressing the role bias
plays in society and politics. I don’t think that’s the same as the media
refusing to acknowledge it exists.


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NS

Health care
Nicole Scott


5:56 p.m.
Link
How likely is it that the Trump administration will attempt to repeal Obamacare?


Brianna Tucker

Deputy Politics Editor, NextGen
5:56 p.m.

More likely than not, there could be some changes, Nicole. He campaigned on this
issue in 2016, and when Trump won, he attempted to roll back the Affordable Care
Act (also known as Obamacare) during his term — on his first day in office in
2017, he signed an executive order to do so. And just last month, Speaker Mike
Johnson vowed to repeal the ACA, saying “No Obamacare.”

Trump has promised to come up with something better, and at the presidential
debate in September, said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace it. He has also
tried to downplay criticisms of it, and his campaign last month said Trump
doesn’t support repealing it.


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Disinformation
Guest


6:05 p.m.
Link
Is it possible to quantify the role of mis-, disinformation played in this
election? What specific actions can federal, state and local policymakers and
leaders implement to address the increasing influence of bad actors on social
media, non-traditional, and traditional news sources? Can/will Russia be held
accountable for myriad fake bomb threats and various other campaigns to
disenfranchise voters and potential voters?


Cleve Wootson


6:05 p.m.

It’s probably quite difficult to quantify, because we know some of the
disinformation that we do see, but are we catching every instance? And
policymakers’ ability to address it is dicey as well, simply because a lot of
folks don’t see it as disinformation, per se – they see it as free speech. And
they will argue (and have argued) that clamping down on that speech is
antithetical to the First Amendment. It is likely an issue our country will
continue to grapple with in elections to come.


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Influence of right-wing media
Low information voters


6:07 p.m.
Link
How strong is the right-wing media’s influence over Trump voters?


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
6:07 p.m.

Hi, Low information voters. I’d say pretty strong, at least for a large segment.
Many GOP voters – especially those on fixed-incomes – are relying on free
YouTube programs, radio shows, podcasts and free- right-leaning or far-right
websites to get their information. Their cable bills were too high so they no
longer subscribe. Many voters are going to places that are confirming their
personal political views.


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Election
Guest


6:14 p.m.
Link
Is there any possibility at all that there WAS voter interference and Trump will
NOT be president???!


Patrick Marley

National reporter
6:14 p.m.

There is no indication of direct interference in the election at a level that
affected the outcome.

The FBI said Russia was behind false bomb threats at a smattering of polling
locations in Democratic parts of swing states. Those threats temporarily closed
some polling sites but voting quickly resumed.

The FBI has said Russia also engaged in a disinformation campaign that included
a fake video of someone claiming to be an illegal Haitian immigrant who was
voting. It’s impossible to know how much efforts like that sway voters but
Trump’s win this year appears more decisive than his victory in 2016.


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Election Factors
Guest


6:21 p.m.
Link
Although many factors determining the election were in play, is there any way to
determine whether the top three factors were “social,” i.e., immigration, or
economic…like inflation?


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
6:21 p.m.

Hey, Election Factors. We’ll be learning more about this in the coming weeks and
months as we learn more from exit polls and focus groups. My sense purely based
on talking to lots and lots of voters in swing-state Arizona, key factors were:
economic, a liberal social culture that didn’t connect with their values, a
sense that their safety or opportunities could be threatened because of
immigration.


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Biden gaffe
Guest


6:28 p.m.
Link
Did Biden hurt Harris when he called Trump supporters garbage in the last couple
of weeks?


Brianna Tucker

Deputy Politics Editor, NextGen
6:28 p.m.

It’s hard to nail down by how much if so, but I would say probably not. It
caused a headache in Democratic circles and for the Harris campaign, and was
very much at odds with the Democratic Party’s rhetoric.

Alternatively, Trump has often denigrated supporters of Harris and Biden, saying
they “should have their head examined" and implying something was wrong with
their mental state. But most of the voters I spoke with on the trail who had
heard the Biden comments did not mention it as a defining moment in which
candidate they would vote for, instead pointing to policies.


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Non-voters
Guest


6:37 p.m.
Link
There is much being said about Trump’s “broad coalition,” yet it seems little
attention has been paid to the reasons why so many people didn’t vote at all. I
have also heard little about the number of ballot rejections and challenges in
key states.


Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
6:37 p.m.

The autopsy on this election is just beginning, but my sense of it, and
something we in the media clearly missed, was that there was different
engagement than in 2020. I think some of that can be attributed to covid. People
were suffering through a collective trauma in 2020 and Biden was promising a way
out. I think that can account for some of the drop off in voting by the people
who supported Biden in 2020.


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Georgia election case
Roy


6:40 p.m.
Link
The Georgia case would have been vital for making Trump face consequences of his
criminal actions. It was a solid case with critical evidence. ... The scenario
could have been very different today if the case had been put together in a
timely manner under the guidance of a competent DA and legal eagles. Any
insight?


Cleve Wootson


6:40 p.m.

Some of the aspects of your question aren’t necessarily in my purview, but from
the outset, the Biden White House tried to stress to people that the workings of
the legal system were independent and wouldn’t be influenced by Biden.


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Political persecution
Justin


6:44 p.m.
Link
How realistic is the notion that Trump might use the powers of the presidency to
persecute his political enemies? What would a realistic worst-case scenario look
like? Are his shocking suggestions about using the military against the enemy
within effectively just strongman bluster?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
6:44 p.m.

Trump is poised to appoint an attorney general who is loyal and ready to carry
out his agenda. For decades, the Department of Justice has operated
independently, often to the frustration of presidents. Trump could change that
tradition and more directly play a role in what the DOJ does.

The situation leaves federal prosecutors with plenty of room to go after Trump’s
political enemies if they want. But to bring a successful case they will need to
find evidence that is strong enough to persuade a judge to proceed in court –
and strong enough to secure a conviction from a jury.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are braced for major shake ups as Trump prepares
to return to office, particularly after he has threatened to deploy the military
against U.S. citizens. You can read more about their concerns from our Post
colleagues here.
Pentagon anticipates major upheaval with Trump’s return to White House

Critics fear President-elect Donald Trump intends to make good on a host of
campaign pledges with enormous implications for the nonpartisan military.
FULL STORY

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I blame Biden/Harris for losing the election
Guest


6:48 p.m.
Link
My name is James, and I live In Trinidad and Tobago. I’m a lifelong supporter of
the Dems. Many of my liberal friends on social media refused to vote for Harris
because of her refusal to get tough with Netanyahu. She made no policy
statement. ...


Cleve Wootson


6:48 p.m.

One of the biggest questions of this election was whether Biden’s stance on the
conflict in the Middle East would have electoral consequences for Democrats. In
short, it did have an impact. But there were other factors at play that cost
Harris the election. And I’m interested in seeing how evolving attitudes of
Israel and the conflict in the Middle East play out in elections to come.


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MA

Possibility of election fraud
Maria


6:50 p.m.
Link
My question is a two-parter: What do you believe were the chances of wide scale
election fraud in the swing states, and do you believe Harris is working behind
the scenes to investigate it?


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
6:50 p.m.

Hi, Maria. Thanks for your questions: There is no evidence of wide-scale
election fraud, not just in swing states, but in all of the states. Harris
conceded, and there is no indication that Democrats are pursuing any such
theory.


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Immigration
Guest


6:51 p.m.
Link
Won’t the courts stop his immigration purge?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
6:51 p.m.

There are too many unknowns to say at this point. Trump has promised the largest
deportation program in history, but it’s not clear what he will actually do.

Whatever he tries, he’s sure to face litigation. How the courts react will
depend on the particulars. With a conservative Supreme Court, Trump will have a
lot of latitude, but not unchecked authority to do whatever he wants.


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MI

Democratic Party
Mike


6:53 p.m.
Link
Hello. I appreciate your phenomenal coverage and for taking questions. Who are
the most influential voices, post Tuesday, in the Democratic Party? Any thoughts
on early possible candidates for the Democrats in 2028?


Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
6:53 p.m.

Thanks Mike! We appreciate you being here. One that stands out for me is Gov.
Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. He’s an extremely popular governor in an extremely
important state who has proven to have broad appeal. Harris’s loss means the
lost list of Democrats waiting in the wings who had their eye on 2028 now will
have their chance in four years. That includes people like Michigan Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Another person to keep an eye
on over the next four years is Pete Buttigieg. He is one of the Democrats’ most
effective communicators and has spent the last four years crisscrossing the
country handing out infrastructure money. I’m very curious what he does over the
next few years to continue to build his creds ahead of what I’m sure will be
another run for president.


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AS

Department of Education
Allison Smith


7:00 p.m.
Link
What will happen to kids in public school if they dismantle the Department of
Education? My granddaughter is starting high school in the fall in a climate
where it’s okay to walk around saying women are property. I am terrified for
her.


Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
7:00 p.m.

Hi, Allison Smith. Sending well-wishes to your granddaughter as she starts high
school. For years, conservatives have looked at Arizona’s school-voucher program
as a model to replicate in other states with a goal of taking that model – or a
similar one – nationally. Our colleagues have written about voucher programs,
and you can read more about them here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/03/tax-dollars-religious-schools/.
We also have written about Trump’s education agenda here.
Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers

The rapid expansion of state voucher programs follows court decisions that have
eroded the separation between church and state.
FULL STORY

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MI

Political violence
Mitch


7:02 p.m.
Link
Polls showed that people were concerned about political violence after the
election. Did that influence people to vote for Trump, assuming they thought his
supporters would cause that, given what happened in 2020?


Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
7:02 p.m.

Fascinating question. I wrote about the poll that showed people thought Trump’s
supporters would resort to political violence if he lost. I would be surprised
if that was a motivating reason to vote FOR Trump, but it is notable that so
many people felt that way about Trump’s supporters but supported him for
president anyway. Fewer people thought Harris’s voters would become violent if
she lost, and Harris has already committed to a peaceful transfer of power,
which was something Trump never did in 2020.


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Cultural sensitivities
Guest


7:02 p.m.
Link
How much of a role did the shift in cultural sentiment and sensitivity play in
conservative turnout? Were they fed up with too Dems focus on establishing a
more inclusive society?


Cleve Wootson


7:02 p.m.

While that’s a card Republicans and Trump played, it’s still unclear how much
the culture wars actually affected voters, especially because voters were
concerned with economic issues, like inflation and the direction of the country.


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Democrats and the elite
Quinn


7:03 p.m.
Link
I’m a Democrat who lives in a flyover state – do you think the Dems trotting out
celebrities and talking down to people turned a lot of folks against them?


Patrick Marley

National reporter
7:03 p.m.

Hello from another flyover state. (I’m based in Wisconsin. We get a lot of
attention in the presidential years, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.)

Others might disagree, but I don’t think Harris’s use of celebrities hurt her.
Harris connected with some new voters by getting support from Taylor Swift and
Beyoncé – though obviously not enough to get her to victory. (Similarly, Trump
reached new voters by going on Joe Rogan’s podcast and other shows.)

I tend to agree with your other point. There is a perception among many
Republican voters here that Democrats look down on them, and they are sick of
that.


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RF

Trump’s future treatment of powerful GOP critics
Russell from Portland OR


7:05 p.m.
Link
The new Senate majority will be critical to the success of the new Trump
Administration. How will the new president treat those GOP senators – like Susan
Collins and Lisa Murkowski–who had earlier voted to impeach him?


Cleve Wootson


7:05 p.m.

I do think it remains to be seen what kind of retribution Trump will try to
exact on those he sees as against him in the past. But remember, he also needs
these folks. Republicans have the Senate majority, but not by much, and
defections by folks like Collins and Murkowski can slow the progress that Trump
obviously wants to make, and even make it hard for him to get his Cabinet and
other appointments through. This is something we saw in the early years of the
Biden administration, in case any of us have forgotten the name “Joe Manchin.”


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Brianna Tucker

Deputy Politics Editor, NextGen
7:08 p.m.
Link

These are smart questions, and I only wish we could answer more. I am heading to
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, shortly as part of a media pool to cover President
Biden this weekend, but always online. 👩‍💻


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Colby Itkowitz

National reporter covering democracy and politics
7:08 p.m.
Link

Such smart and engaging questions! We’re so lucky to have such informed and
interested readers. Sorry we couldn’t get to them all! We hope you’ll keep
reading. My colleagues and I on the democracy team are committed to continuing
our rigorous coverage of Trump and his administration. Enjoy your weekend!


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Patrick Marley

National reporter
7:08 p.m.
Link

Thanks for all your questions. There were way more than we could answer.

Now I think I’m going to sleep for 72 hours. Enjoy the weekend.


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Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Democracy reporter, Arizona
7:08 p.m.
Link

Thanks for all the great questions, everyone! I’m off to check in on updated
vote tallies. And since I’m not buried in post-election litigation coverage
(yet), I’m getting ready for the HOLIDAYS!!!


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Cleve Wootson


7:08 p.m.
Link

Thanks for all the great questions. Some of them are avenues of reporting that
we’re going to go down in the months and weeks to come. But first, after
spending most of the past four months in airplane seats, I’m going to take a
nap.


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About this live chat
Washington Post journalists Cleve Wootson, Brianna Tucker, Patrick Marley, Colby
Itkowitz and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez answered your questions about the election
of Donald Trump to the presidency. Questions may be edited for accuracy and
clarity.





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223 Comments
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By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
, 
Brianna Tucker
, 
Patrick Marley
, 
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
, 
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and 
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