Ethnic Media Services, an initiative that works to enhance ethnic news outlets’ capacity to inform and engage diverse audiences on broader public issues to build a more inclusive participatory democracy, recently hosted a national Zoom briefing titled “Insights on 2024 Elections—Who Voted, Why, What Results Could Mean.”
A range of experts representing media outlets owned and run by members of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups shared their insights with journalists from across the nation. Their goal: to help EMS member journalists contextualize the election outcome, including discussions on the role of communities of color, the women’s vote and the impacts of issues like religion, family values, immigration, etc. on voter motivation.
These panelists included:
- Kelly Dittmar, director of research, Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University
- Professor Robert Pape, professor of Political Science, the University of Chicago and founder and director, the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST)
- John C. Yang, president and executive director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
- Vanessa Cardenas, executive director, American’s Voice
- Ben Jealous, executive director, Sierra Club and former NAACP president and CEO
Below are some of their excerpts from this national conversation.
REPUBLICANS BUILT STRONGER RACIAL COALITION
“The CNN and the NBC exit polls, I think, paint a fairly straightforward picture about what happened here in terms of the facts. Which is that blue-collar Hispanics voted in huge numbers, almost half for Trump. And that made the decisive difference. Yes, we saw more Black males. We saw others, not as many women for Harris. But the bottom line is, what happened is as America is shifting to a multiracial America, there’s been a huge assumption by everybody, which is this will be a progressive future; that it will just naturally work to the progressives. Well, what happened here is that Donald Trump and his campaign built a stronger multiracial coalition.” (Robert Pape)
IMPACT OF RELIGION
“We’ve known for some time that religion can be cross-cutting cleavages to race and ethnicity. And I think that’s one of the big things that’s been left out here because those blue-collar Hispanics are very pro-family. It appears they’re very anti-abortion. In other words, what happened here isn’t just a racial split, but it’s also a cross-cutting cleavage related to issues related to religion and family values, which I think just has not been part of the conversation as much. I think also Trump’s playing to chaos helped to move that group as well… I do think we’re moving to a multiracial democracy and we’re seeing that the GOP can play in that game and have just beaten the Democrats at that issue. The second thing I’d like to say is about political violence, We should just be aware that there’s already a resistance march planned for January 18th in Washington that has permits for 50,000. We just need to be aware that we are in a tinderbox of a country. And so if that march happens. It is by no means 100% clear that will remain peaceful.
WOMEN VOTING STATS
“Importantly, women have been more likely than men to support the Democratic candidate. And less likely than men to support the Republican candidate in every election since 1980. In terms of women’s aggregate vote, the same exit poll shows that 53% of women versus 42% of men supported Harris and 45% of women versus 55% of men supported Trump.” (Kelly Dittman)
“Black women continue to be the most reliable Democratic voters and the pushers of the gender gap for women to the left. Over 90% of Black women voted for Harris. And as in every election for the past 20 years, the majority of white women voted for the Republican candidate.” (Kelly Dittman)
“We know that women outnumber and outvote men and have done so again in every election since 1980.” (Kelly Dittman)
WHITE WOMEN
“White women have supported the Republican candidate in every election since 2004. This was again true in 2024. There is important research on this topic, showing that white women are more likely to align with candidates who uphold their racial privilege than to vote in any way with gender solidarity. Where we have seen a break is among college-educated white women, who voted in plurality for the Republican in 2012 but have voted for Democratic nominees in every election – and by slightly larger margins – in every election since 2016. At the same time, non-college-educated white women have hardened their support for Trump/Republicans.” (Kelly Dittman)
RACISM & MISOGYNY
“In 2024, a majority of the country’s voters were again willing to disregard misogyny and racism or were even motivated in part by it in choosing a president. So, to me, it’s less about the identity of Harris and whether or not we can elect a woman, but why and what motivates electing this type of man. (Kelly Dittman)
RELATED: Yes, Trump Won. Here’s What Happens Next
THE MALE GRIEVANCE CARD
“We’ve seen Donald Trump since he’s been on the scene, including in 2016 and 2020, play into what is a traditional masculinist politics, and particularly tap into a grievance around masculinity being threatened. Psychologists would call this precarious masculinity; the idea that men, and women who believe that there should be this type of gender difference, fear the disruption of that. Most of that has been focused on a particular white male grievance, but absolutely you’re seeing that message kind of pervade any other groups. Kamala Harris embodied… the sort of fear of that change among many of his supporters.” (Kelly Dittman)
CAN AMERICA EVER ELECT A WOMAN POTUS?
“I think the country can, in fact, elect a woman president, but we have to dig deep into these roots of misogyny and racism if we’re going to make that even more possible… The majority of U.S. voters cast ballots for a woman over Trump in 2016 and a record number of women have run and won elective office since Trump was elected, so I would push back against the conclusion that Americans are afraid of or unwilling to support a woman president. As I suggested in my remarks, the gender story is more complicated than that. Women who run for president absolutely face distinct hurdles and biases, which are rooted in much deeper misogyny (and racism) in our society. Donald Trump has weaponized gender/masculinity against women and men opponents, and he has been successful in doing so. (Kelly Dittman).
IMMIGRATION IMPACT
“Immigrant rights groups are organizing to present a robust pushback against Trump’s plans (i.e. mass deportation) and also support our communities. This website gives some good pointers for those worried about how to prepare for raids/know your rights: https://www.informedimmigrant.com/resources/know-your-rights/. (Vanessa Cardenas)
GROWING ASIAN ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION
“We see Asian Americans seeking elected office in record numbers, both at the federal and local level. They are also engaging in civic society generally in more diverse ways. Thus, in addition to voting, we see Asian Americans making sure that they are part of the decision-making process in many ways.” (John C. Yang)
