Will the United States ever elect a Female President?

Bismah Mirza

The 45th President of the United States of America has been elected, and he is in the White House. The president is not Kamla Harris. There are numerous reasons why Harris lost and Trump won. Top of the list is Former Vice President Kamla Harris herself. Why?

Here so:

1. She is a novice, not battle-tested, in the U.S. Presidential election race, carrying the baggage of the Biden Administration and not willing to change a thing about President Biden administration policies. Trump has been in the presidential election race for the past nine years and has served as President once, compared to Kamla Harris, who has been running for president for 16 weeks.
2. Ms. Harris’s election campaign revolved around a critical issue, the ‘Right to Abortion,’ as she stated in her campaign, and ‘Our daughters know fewer rights than our grandmothers.’ Undoubtedly, that is an important issue, but it is not the issue that unites America. Other than that, for Democrats, the second biggest issue was Donald J. Trump. All that could be echoed in Harris’s campaign was Trump & Abortion Rights.
3. Trump’s campaign, on the other hand, had all the Trump unifying pain cards for Americans: Immigration & Border Issues Twenty percent of Americans believed that immigration and border issues were important to them. Illegal border crossings have increased in the Biden administration, and they blamed Harris for it.
4. Economy-Despite Democrats’ 1992 slogan, ‘ It’s Economy, Stupid!’ which Harris should have remembered, Republicans kept it center stage in their campaigns.
5. Americans are tired of overseas war; the suicide rate of veterans is 11 per day in the U.S.A. The economy is crumbling, and U.S. taxpayer money is spent everywhere except on the welfare of Americans. In the previous Trump tenure, he existed from Afghanistan, and Americans hoped he would do the same in the war in the Middle East with his inward-looking approach. This is also one of the assurances Trump has given to Muslim & Arab Americans in Michigan.
6. Arab & Muslim Voters: For the first time in history, Muslim & Arab Americans have unified over Gaza, and a strong collaborative voice of resilience & force has emerged to vote for a cause, ending a 20-year love affair with democrats. Harris has failed to deliver here. For American Muslims, he is no savior, but a message is sent that a Muslim Vote is crucial & our interest has to be protected. Pakistani Americans- the Imran Khan card was also used during the election campaign to win over Pakistani Americans, leaving no stone unturned.
7. Gender & Race- play an important role in elections. The first time, when President Trump won, it was the white women who had helped Trump to get elected in 2016 (a report by the New York Times). As per the stats in The Nation on September 23, 2023, no democrat nominee has won the majority vote other than Lyndon Johnson since 1965. In current elections, 54% of women voted for Vice President Harris, which is 3% less than the votes former President Biden received in the last elections. She has also lost on Latino & Asian votes; Ms. Harris received 6% fewer Latino votes than Joe Biden in 2020.  Since gender is essential in how Americans vote, Ms. Harris’s gender also worked against her. How? Donald J. Trump has been part of three (3) presidential races and has been victorious in 2 out of 3 bids for president. He has lost to a white man but won twice against his female contender, and the question remains a mystery: Will the U.S.A. ever elect a female president?.

The author is the Executive Editor of the monthly Interaction