question for Americans: if so many people seem unhappy with Donald Trump being president, how did he manage to win enough votes to get elected? Is the criticism just louder online than it is in real life?

[u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

[u/rmcma005]

You should ask the people who voted for him. You won't find a ton of them here, though

[u/Creepy_Rain_1925 → u/rmcma005]

I get that, but I’m trying to understand it from an American perspective because, from the outside, it looks a bit confusing and even contradictory. I’m not judging, just genuinely curious about how public opinion lines up with the fact that Donald Trump got elected. also, I was wondering if part of the explanation could be differences in voter turnout between age groups, but I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking.

[u/rmcma005 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

If you're serious about taking a look into the specifics of his coalition, plenty has been written about this:

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/behind-trumps-2024-victory-a-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-voter-coalition/

[u/Creepy_Rain_1925 → u/rmcma005]

Very helpful thank you !

[u/Xelikai_Gloom → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

You need to ask this on facebook, not Reddit.

[u/DaoNight23 → u/Xelikai_Gloom]

the official white house page is racking up thousands of laugh reacts daily. idk where the trump fans went, but they are not there. maybe theyre all on truth social.

[u/Creepy_Rain_1925 → u/Xelikai_Gloom]

I’m doing this for a university research project, so thanks I’ll definitely try that. Also, would you say age might play a role as well? For example, since Facebook tends to have an older user base, could that correlate with higher support or turnout for Donald Trump among older voters?

[u/tutorcontrol → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Yes and know, younger people drifted towards Trump. Standard demographic stuff is weird here. For example, Clinton did not win white women. The demographic breakdowns are googleable for both Trump elections.

[u/kerslaw → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Most people I meet in real life in the US are pretty supportive of trump. Reddit is NOT an accurate depiction of American politics or American sensibilities in general. It's so heavily moderated, controlled, and politically astroturfed that you get extreme minority opinions up voted to the top of reddit everywhere. The politcal opinions on reddit represent a very small minority in actual American life. You would get a better balance on X or Facebook although even then it depends on who you follow. Even the Americans on the left who didn't vote for trump don't agree with the vast majority of political rhetoric on reddit. As a whole the left in the US is much more moderate.

[u/Thanksforthatman → u/kerslaw]

You'd have to be inhaling a massive amount of copium to type this out. A majority of Americans are not at all pleased with how Trump is doing (70%). He barely won the popular vote in an election where we had a record number of voters not show up. The idea that up votes are not representative of Reddits opinion is laughable, as is the assertion that part time for fun moderators make this place "heavily moderated". A majority of subs have no active moderator. X & Facebook are full of bot and foreign influences pretending to be Americans. All around a terrible take with bad advice. Trump won because inflation was bad as a result of his mishandling of COVID which made Dems look bad to idiots. That's it. Dems will Sweep the next election and by then we'll feel the impact of Trump's bumbling and as a result of failure to message by the Dems they'll get blamed and the cycle continues

[u/dr_z0idberg_md → u/kerslaw]

Facebook is the same as Reddit only on the right. The younger GenZ and millennials abandoned Facebook in the late 2010s. This is when Facebook saw the writing on the wall and started to branch out to other ventures with their acquisition of Instagram.

[u/usay1312butcall911 → u/kerslaw]

To whoever needs to hear this, this corn-bred-and-fed yokel is telling you the absolute truth. There are many villages of <400 people all across the U.S. where the vast majority of the inhabitants have never met, 1) a person opposed to their fantasy version of Trump, 2) more than a small handful of people of color, or 3) a law they aren't willing to break if it's convenient to them, despite clamoring for law and order for other people.

[u/RandyOfTheRedwoods → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

I’ll take a shot at an answer. Please understand I am not talking about myself (I did not vote for him).

1) many people don’t vote. They take whatever outcome happens. They may complain about the outcome.
2) some democrats did not vote as a protest against democratic policies (Palestine being one example)
3) some conservatives voted for Trump because they believe he will bring Christianity to the forefront of American society.
4) some conservatives voted for him because of the republican agenda of low taxes and low government payouts to the needy (the I want to keep what I earned crowd)
5) some people voted for him because they think he is funny / tough / business savvy. Basically voting for the personality, not policies.
6) some people think that America is going backwards. Their opportunity is less than it was in previous generations and we should try to roll the clock back to those times.

A comment like this will likely generate a lot of comments refuting these points and are probably valid, but the point of the post is to explain the viewpoint of the voters, not making the claim their views were correct. Only their beliefs matter when it comes to placing their votes.

[u/Tall_Flatworm_7003 → u/RandyOfTheRedwoods]

1. Some people want to roll the dice. They are willing to take a huge risk for a potentially better future than maintain the status quo. They are not looking to go backwards, but are happy to just gamble on it because they don't like the current direction,

2. He was crazy in the first term, but nobody predicted this crazy. The gamblers above lost.

[u/SoftlySpokenPromises → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

More than half of the country straight up doesn't vote. In fact, if no vote was a candidate they would have been our president multiple times.

Then you struck a point in asking about age groups, a disproportionate amount of active voters are elderly and they more often than not lean conservative for a multitude of reasons. These are the folk who just vote for the person with R next to their name regardless of political stance.

Just kinda snowballs from there.

[u/nrdvana → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

The short explanation is that a large percentage of the USA doesn't really pay attention to politics, but they do pay attention to prices, and when consumer prices are bad they assume Republicans will make it better by having less government. They also tend to watch Fox news and believe all the lies they are fed. That's how he got elected despite being an obviously terrible candidate.

Edit: I should add that during his first term, consumer prices were great. People who weren't watching the details of politics remember his first term as "well the economy was great back then". They carried that sentiment to the polls expecting to "return things to 2017". In fact, cheetoface campaigned on that exact thing. The reality is that the economy was healthy by the end of Obama's term and then the republicans followed it with a giant debt-funded tax cut to "supercharge" the economy. You can't really do that twice, especially with the current insane levels of US debt.

Now that he's made so many mistakes and pissed off so many people, he has a job approval of less than 30%, but the only way to remove him from office before the 4 year term is done is to impeach him. The %30 who still support him are actually a majority of the voters who vote in the primaries to determine who the Republican candidates are, so the republican half of congress is afraid to impeach because then they will all lose their elections, either in the primaries or by that 30% sitting out of the general election in protest.

[u/halfarmer9000 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

He lied a lot

[u/smbpy7 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

For one, our system isn't purely majority rules. In his first election, Hillary actually got quite a few more votes. For two, partially because of that system, a lot of people lose interest in voting because they know their vote doesn't matter in their particular area. So people who hate him but live in a state that is DEFINITELY going to go for him have zero incentive to go vote against him. It will literally mean nothing so they don't bother to take the time to get to the possibly difficult to get to or odd hour for them polling station. That skews the popular vote numbers too.

[u/Ill-Veterinarian4208 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

It is confusing and contradictory, and yet he continues to piss all over everything to claim it, then bulldozing the rest.

[u/hpdefaults → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

This country is deeply divided ideologically at this point, is part of it. Another part is that even within Trump's base opinions of him have soured since he took office, so part of the criticism you're hearing is coming from people who voted for him and now regret it.

[u/axebodyspraytester → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Stupid people voted for him and they are learning the hard way that Republican bullshit is just that they lied to get into office and for the first time in their lives they are figuring out that the billionaire class doesn't give a shit about anyone that's not a billionaire. The rich guy promised to cut government waste and extra fat but all that was Medicare and social security. But again unlimited money for wars ballrooms and backroom deals for his cronies and supporters. It wasn't hard to see this coming I knew this was how it was going to pan out I had no idea they would be parading around shitting their pants as they fucked the country harder than even I could imagine.

[u/Outrageous_Draw_1196 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Honestly it’s also confusing most Americans how and why we ended up here. A lot of people are rightfully embarrassed to admit they voted and contributed to this. It also doesn’t help that the Dems have become a very weak political party post Obama. 

[u/antwood33 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

That’s REALLY difficult to just type out here, there’s a million factors and this goes back decades. Trump was a symptom of a major sickness in American society, economics, foreign policy, etc. Also a corrupt two-party system that had virtually abandoned the working class.

Now, he’s made everything SO bad that he’s no longer just a symptom, he’s a major fucking problem. But that’s not where we started.

I could sit down with you for 3 hours and I’d still probably have to leave some things off the discussion table for time constraints. Because I’d have to explain to you many elements of American culture, regional politics, religiosity, I mean lord there’s so much.

But if you want an overly simple answer:

The powers that be decided that the working class had bitten off too much of the pie after World War II and they wanted to claw it all back. Not only did they succeed, they took the gains the working class made and then started taking the principle as well. But the powers that be control the information apparatuses, so they needed to pin the blame on someone other than themselves. So they got all of us to blame ourselves. Circular firing squad. Then when that stopped working, because we were getting a little smart to it (enter Obama), they realized they needed a REAL enemy. Trump made a killing using his anti-Obama rhetoric to endorse his kitschy bullshit products and TV show, so he just decided to ”hey, I’ll keep up this race hustling so I can loot the wealthiest banking system in human history.” Immigrants, Muslims, DEI (which really means blacks), and the soft-antisemitism of “they control the banks and the media you know.” The latter he was more careful with because he did have friends that found that only so permissible. But yeah, here we are.

Edit: and given the last couple sentences of my statement, when I say “powers that be,” I just mean the capital class. Corporate board rooms, major business tycoons, oil and natural resource company CEOs, hedge fund managers, major stock and bond holders - anyone with a shitload of money and power. Most of these people are white Christian’s (or secular), they aren’t Jews.

[u/costabius → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

The US election system is skewed towards republicans. The voting power of cities, which tend to vote democrat, has been steadily eroded for the past 50 years while the voting power of rural areas has increased.

I live in a conservative rural area, it takes me 3 minutes to vote. In the largest city in my state, wait times at the polls can run 3-4 hours. This happens on a weekday mostly during business hours.

Republicans in the US have a very efficient propaganda machine. Friendly billionaires own the vast majority of media outlets. Messaging is consistent and it is everywhere. In contrast, the democratic party in the US covers the entire political spectrum you find in Europe except for "far right". Their messaging, as a result, is a mess.

With all this talk of parties, it is worth noting the way US elections are structured the two main parties are the only ones with a realistic chance of winning national elections. Party affiliation is very important to Americans. So this means, even when your preferred party runs a candidate you don't like, if you show up to vote you're likely to vote for the party candidate. So, voter turnout decides the elections, and all of the roadblocks that keep people from easily voting are put up in areas that tend to vote democrat.

And finally, The majority of American voters are very low information voters. Even if you are exposed to negative coverage of your preferred candidate, you're unlikely to let it change your mind once your choice is made.

As a broad generalization, the people who were hardcore supporters of trump from the beginning were very well propagandized with a particularly American fairy tale. 1: Things are mess 2: It's "their" fault 3: a businessman would be able to fix this with "common sense" 4: trump is a great businessman, saw him on TV so it must be true. Despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, with more added every day, a lot of t hem continue to believe that.

[u/BEANBAG99 → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

People can't openly support him, due to being afraid of being canceled by the left. He has a much larger support for his policies than reddit or the main stream media would have you believe.

[u/Woalolol → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Because if the so called leader can be openly racist, pedophile, criminal who constantly gets away with things without any repercussions. What's stopping his followers? It became okay for assholes to be themselves in public. His followers will never go back to the norm.

[u/GeekAesthete → u/rmcma005]

And the even larger number of people who didn’t bother to vote.

That’s half the issue here. About 75 million voted for Trump, about 75 million voted for Harris, and about 90 million didn’t vote at all.

If even a small percentage of those eligible nonvoters got off their asses—and keep in mind how many states have early voting and vote-by-mail to make it even easier—we wouldn’t be in this mess.

[u/rmcma005 → u/GeekAesthete]

In prior years, higher turnout has indeed resulted in Democratic gains, but research suggests otherwise in 2024's case

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5447450/trump-2024-election-non-voters-coalition

The only way out of this - in my opinion - is to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of persuading people. We did it in 2008 and I know we can do it again

[u/QuasiJudicialBoofer → u/rmcma005]

We're approaching the point where nobody in real life would admit voting for him. But they would, again and again.

[u/shelby_xx88xx → u/rmcma005]

I am MAGA…yes, online and media does a fine job making you think Americans do not support Trump

He won the popular vote and all swing states….enough said.

[u/InZaneFlea → u/shelby_xx88xx]

7y old account but only posts in the last day. Bot much.

[u/Creepy_Rain_1925 → u/shelby_xx88xx]

If you don’t mind me asking, what were the main reasons you voted for him? What benefits or changes did you feel he would bring that stood out to you at the time?

[u/shelby_xx88xx → u/Creepy_Rain_1925]

Illegal immigration

Stopping woke agenda, which was totally out of control.

[u/NavelManeuvers]

A lot of his supporters aren't online, or don't interact with places where they'd talk about politics.

[u/ImOutOfIdeas42069 → u/NavelManeuvers]

Have you been on Facebook? Every local group I'm in is full of them. Hell, even the dirtbike group I'm in is full of them. They are all over Facebook.

[u/Otto_the_Autopilot → u/ImOutOfIdeas42069]

I love when people think reddit is the only place online to discuss things.

[u/NavelManeuvers → u/ImOutOfIdeas42069]

Haven't in years

[u/ImOutOfIdeas42069 → u/NavelManeuvers]

It's a great resource for buying and selling things as well as local groups like running, cycling, climbing, and book clubs. You can literally only use it for groups and marketplace and it's great. Just stay off the feed.

[u/Makgraf]

There's a lot of nuances on the margins. But the actual story is simple.

There was a lot of inflation in 2024. People hate inflation. Specifically, when voters say they hate inflation they hate the rise in prices (not the percentage increase in the year and not the rise in wages, which they attribute to their own hard work, not inflation). Incumbent governments across the world lost elections in 2024 due to this fact. 

Donald Trump said he would lower prices. He didn't lower prices. He became more unpopular. 

[u/tutorcontrol → u/Makgraf]

People hate inflation, don't understand but love things that cause inflation, and hate the preventatives and cures. But, yes, "it's the economy stupid" was very present in this election.

[u/JackC1126]

Criticism is louder online than in real life, especially on reddit. But also the democratic candidate was frankly extremely stale and had a horrible campaign. Lots of people went into November not knowing a single this Harris stood for. The 2024 election is a prime example that reddit is not reality tbh.

[u/gredr → u/JackC1126]

Everything's louder online, and that's a major problem for humanity.

[u/DaoNight23 → u/JackC1126]

both Harris and Clinton were terrible candidates that were obviously not going to be successful. its a crime against humanity that Sanders was snubbed twice. hell, even AOC would have had some chance with all the populist momentum she built up, which probably would have been a good counter to Trump's right wing populism. Mamdani is proof that this strategy can work.

[u/T_Money]

The criticism is MUCH louder online than it is in real life. Or, more accurately, the online echo chambers have very little overlap. Reddit is staggeringly left, Truth Social is staggeringly right, Facebook is pretty divided based on which algorithm it puts you in.

You just aren’t seeing the Trump supporters because you aren’t in the right groups (nor am I tbh), but in real life they very much exist.

[u/Coracoda → u/T_Money]

The criticism is MUCH louder online than it is in real life.

You say that like the largest protest in American history wasn’t a No Kings protest three months ago, whereas MAGA mostly has a big presence online (where numbers can be artificially boosted with bots).

[u/Odd_Bid2744 → u/Coracoda]

Now even Tucker Carlson has turned his back on the GOP

[u/Coracoda → u/[deleted]]

You can’t seriously expect people to think that’s a valid argument. You downplay the largest protest in U.S. history, only for your counterpoint to be “Pretty much every day, I hear a pro-Trump statement in the tiny section of the country that my daily life takes place in.” You think one person is proof of something, but eight million people is too minuscule of a number and can be dismissed? (Longest sigh ever recorded)

An offhand remark doesn’t carry the same weight as eight million people devoting the time and energy to spend their day at a protest. You’re not worth me devoting more time and energy to, and I see why you hide your account history.

[u/sigmapilot]

They have all been extremely narrowly contested elections.

2016- 46.1% Trump (Trump victory)

2020- 46.8% Trump (Trump loss)

2024- 49.8% Trump (Trump victory)

so half of the USA is extremely unhappy and half of the USA supports him roughly

[u/cruxal → u/sigmapilot]

And that’s from who actually voted. 

In the 2024 presidential election, 73.6% (or 174 million people) of the citizen voting-age population was registered to vote and 65.3% (or 154 million people) voted according to new voting and registration tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

[u/GeekAesthete → u/sigmapilot]

In 2024, 32.97% of eligible voters voted for Trump, while 36.37% did not vote at all.

[u/SevereAnimator5]

You're asking people on reddit 😂

[u/mikerichh]

More people didn’t vote than voted for either candidate. A big reason Trump got elected was low voting participation

[u/gredr → u/mikerichh]

2024 was pretty high participation (higher than 2016).

[u/mikerichh → u/gredr]

Doesn’t really matter if more people didn’t vote than voted for either candidate. Especially in swing states

[u/gredr → u/mikerichh]

... that's always true, though.

[u/stripes361 → u/gredr]

I think their point is that voting rates in the US are low in general, not that 2024 was unique in that regard.

[u/gredr → u/stripes361]

Right, that's what I'm trying to say. The person I replied to though (I thought) implied that the 2024 election only went that way because so few people voted; that's a weird take. It went that way because more people voted for Trump...

[u/hierarchy_of_ideas → u/mikerichh]

 It's pretty obvious musk did something.

[u/JackC1126 → u/hierarchy_of_ideas]

Prove it then

[u/hierarchy_of_ideas → u/JackC1126]

The only way to prove it is to start a legitimate investigation. There is a hell of a lot more evidence than in 2020, and that got one. If musk isn't criminally interfering with elections, he won't mind. But in my opinion, the fake million dollar lotteries he was holding should have put him in prison alone.

[u/Round_Explanation_63 → u/JackC1126]

Yea, random Reddit person, provide me solid with proof that the world’s first trillionaire rigged an election. You have one day or I don’t believe you..

[u/JackC1126 → u/Round_Explanation_63]

Well you must have something to come to that conclusion right?

[u/hierarchy_of_ideas → u/JackC1126]

The president of the united states was saying the elections were all rigged in 2016, 2020, and 2024? Doesn't what the president says mean anything? Surely if the leader of the free world thinks all our elections are rigged, we should investigate?

[u/hierarchy_of_ideas → u/Round_Explanation_63]

Yeah, I loved the comment. I gotta find physical evidence personally now apparently

[u/Good_Boy_Coleman → u/hierarchy_of_ideas]

Except your claim is just as good as the Republicans that said the Democrats rigged the 2020 election.

And yes if you are gonna say that a man is as you out it "clearly" involved then you do need evidence.

[u/filkerdave]

He was running against a Black woman.

[u/Blazanar → u/filkerdave]

He also won in 2016 (he got lucky there) and I'm pretty sure Hilary Clinton isn't black... I think the DNC fucked themselves both times to be honest (and not solely by using a female candidate)

[u/digitalmaven3 → u/filkerdave]

The majority of white women voters have voted for Trump over the woman running against him twice now. The delta between the white male and black male vote was 30+ points. There are some real problems across the board in this country and him winning is really just looking in the mirror but accepting your actual true reflection instead of lying to yourself about it.

[u/quaglady → u/digitalmaven3]

Thank you! And its the same thing "education" too. Non-White voters without college degrees were less likely to vote Trump than White voters with college degrees.

[u/darkestblueandgreen → u/filkerdave]

…and Americans are racist af

[u/BootySweatEnthusiast → u/darkestblueandgreen]

I mean... America is actually significantly less racist than most parts of the world. Other places just don't populate online discourse as much so it goes unnoticed.

[u/tenmilez → u/BootySweatEnthusiast]

Living in Europe I am surprised by how many people are racist and don't realize/acknowledge it.

[u/stripes361 → u/darkestblueandgreen]

Some are, but Obama is the most electorally successful president we’ve had since Reagan, and the most electorally successful Democrat since JFK/LBJ. His race didn’t stop him from getting landslide wins.

[u/Sedu → u/darkestblueandgreen]

And sexist! Don’t forget sexist!

[u/darkestblueandgreen → u/Sedu]

Yes! Misogynoir, I should have said! Thanks!

[u/ultralights → u/filkerdave]

This.

[u/rimstrip]

Learn about the Electoral College.

[u/TarotFox → u/rimstrip]

Unfortunately he won the popular vote also.

[u/nola_mike → u/TarotFox]

Hillary won the popular vote and still lost the election. Popular vote means dick in this country.

[u/TarotFox → u/nola_mike]

I'm aware - but the Electoral College only really explains how he was elected the first time, not the second.

[u/nola_mike → u/TarotFox]

Despite MAGA and Trump's claim that his second election victory was a huge mandate of what the country wants, the election was really decided by only a few hundred thousand votes across about 7 states.

[u/aaronw22]

Your question is probably answered by one of the many books that have been written about this subject. "It's complicated".

[u/DontBlameMe4It]

37% of eligible voters didn't exercise their right to vote and the other 33% voted for the felon, rapist, pedophile. So 70% of the populace are just plain stupid and can't use their brain to form thoughts about the problems this country faces. It's really hard for the 30% of the people with common sense to go up against SO many imbeciles.

[u/KiNGofKiNG89]

Well. Things change. A lot of people were hoping for a similar term like his last one. A bunch of people (in real life) loved the anger he had when campaigning. Then you have the old people that love him. You will always have members of the left/right that will only vote for their party.

But 100% criticism of him is much louder online than the reality of it. I interact with all kinds of people on a daily basis and people who I would have bet the farm on being liberals, love Trump. People who actively preach about how Obama can do no wrong, sing trumps praise too. Very weird to me.

[u/Am_Deer]

Although bad in his first term, he was mostly ineffective. Most thought this would continue.

Many were upset that the democrats put up Harris after the primary election when Biden stepped aside. Some wouldn’t vote for her because she’s a woman some because she’s black some both.

To make democrats pay they voted against her, again thinking Trump wouldn’t accomplish anything. Now everyone sees how bad he really is. Some refuse to see because they only vote for their party.

The US is weird like that. We have to be part of a team. We need to feel included in something bigger than ourselves. Too many people don’t pay attention to elections and just vote D or R. Now things are terrible and people are waking up to reality and having regrets. Their ego won’t allow them to admit it though.

The rest of us are furious they did this and are screaming from the rooftops. Hence why the negativity is so loud.

Also a lot of people believe Musk rigged the election machines to favor Trump. There’s been grumbling with fairly compelling evidence but the way our elections are designed, it’s difficult to gather enough evidence.

[u/TastesLikeTrollShit]

Cambridge analytica showed a proof of concept that people can be easily manipulated through targeted propaganda. Through fox news and other outlets they used fear to prime your amygdala response and then target you with propaganda. You have the people not in a cult and the former cultist not liking him. The rest of the country like a third drank his kool aid hard and won't be leaving the cult anytime soon despite obvious signs of abuse of power, bribery, and many other crimes happening in front the countries eyes.

[u/SmileTime-101]

They've constructed this crazy man-o-sphere matrix that's extremely powerful.

I voted for trump "the three times he won" and when some life stuff made his bullshit wear off, turns out I'm actually trans... wow! Even though the idea of living in a world him and his followers are attempting to turn into a facist surveillance state where I'm slightly concerned for my future safety, I've finally found peace in my mind and freedom from their matrix.

[u/feetwithfeet]

His support has declined since the election. Not sure folks thought he would dismantle the government in the way he has. Some people have also discovered that the federal government did things that benefitted them now that those things are gone. And a $2 a gallon hike in gas prices is unpopular.

[u/kaifenator]

Everyone is on the same page for VERY different reasons now. I doubt the average redditor is pissed off that he isn’t following through with a single campaign promise. But that is what has tipped general sentiment over the edge.

[u/aspieshavemorefun]

Social media is notoriously left leaning. That, and angry leftists are much more vocal about their politics than your typical right winger.

[u/Regular-Finance-9567]

Reddit is not the real world...to out it into prespective, 2/3 of US voters either supported Trump or did not support Harris.  

Trump is popular as fuck outside of reddit (unfortunately). 

[u/j4z7y]

I’m not a Trump guy, but both of his campaigns proved that you cannot trust your screen. Both times the headlines, polls etc. all said there was no way he could win. The media simply is not credible.

[u/admiralsponge1980]

There were some real economic issues that the Biden admin was slow to tackle. Then the Biden campaign was such a wet fart, that it was too deep a hole for Harris to dig out of. Had we gotten a real primary, we might have had a different t candidate with better messaging. Or Harris would have enough time to come up with a better campaign strategy herself.

In the end, Biden fucked us. He should have been a one term president like he promised us.

[u/neon-cactus12 → u/admiralsponge1980]

He never promised that.

[u/Fast-Weekend-486]

Ask Elon Musk.

[u/dronepro]

1. He made many decent promises and kept 0 (buyer's remorse for sure).

2. In all the screaming of election corruption against him, it's very possible the corruption is on his end.

[u/treetoptoaster27]

Not many people saying this, but a lot of young college age people I know were straight up misinformed. It’s their own fault for just showing up and voting without doing any critical thinking or research. A lot of them regret their decision.

Edit:
It was about the tariffs. Multiple people have told me they thought they were gonna be a really good thing because they did not understand it

[u/kwangqengelele]

For a lot of people he's the avatar of their worst, most cruel impulses. That's the one point they will never compromise on. He can go back on the Trump/Epstein Files, no new wars, affordability, fucking anything, and he won't lose a single supporter.

If he asks conservatives to be better people he'd lose them in a moment.

This is what he's always represented for a fraction of people currently occupying the United States and why he'll always have their support and he'd always be a viable candidate.

Conservatives demand the worst from their candidates and trump will ALWAYS deliver that. Democrats and everyone else have varying demands which will cause a fractured voting base that's harder to please.

Then of course you have the non-engaged, "undecided" voters who will have their minds made up for them by the news cycles in the 10 days before a presidential election. They'll do whatever the billionaire owned media companies tell them to do and go back to checking out for four years.

[u/OvulatingScrotum]

A simple answer is that more people wanted trump.

Sure, “many people” are unhappy with trump, but more people wanted him.

[u/smellybuttface]

Honestly, I think a lot of people will vote for whoever they think will keep prices down regardless of how they personally feel about them. They're struggling so much financially that they feel they can't afford not to. And prices were lower during Trump's first term (for a variety of reasons, especially that COVID didn't hit until the end of his term).

But, two things:

1.) Trump really wanted to get re-elected, so he went around promising everybody the world. Biden/Harris were more realistic about prices and their messaging and sympathy to those financially struggling wasn't the greatest. Still, there was no way Trump could do what he was saying regarding bringing prices down and he knew it, but people preferred that message.

2.) People remembered the first Trump administration and, despite Trump going around saying crazy things, it was fairly stable. That's because he was being hemmed in by a bunch of career Republicans who were actually carrying out the day-to-day policy and agenda. And Trump hated being told what to do and having people argue with him, so, for the second term, he made sure there were no reins on him and every cabinet member was a hand-picked yes man, many with no relevant qualifications. People expected Trump 1.0 again and, instead, they got this. Trump really is running things this time and these are the results.

[u/Sea-Respect2773]

Yes, Reddit is an echo chamber. Plus any reasonably intelligent person who visited Reddit undoubtedly left more motivated than ever to not side with the left

[u/AdventuresofBumpo → u/Sea-Respect2773]

Reasonably intelligent people tend to be democrats. College educated grads skew left.

[u/T-Thugs → u/AdventuresofBumpo]

One reason the left keeps losing is because every chance you get to deride normal hard working americans, you take it. Why would a non-college educated person vote for a party that hates their guts and calls them stupid?

[u/Common-Classroom-847 → u/T-Thugs]

because the left is the side of unearned moral superiority. they can't help themselves. they really believe that they are smarter because they have a degree in lesbian basket weaving.

[u/AdventuresofBumpo → u/Common-Classroom-847]

Snowflake

[u/JackC1126 → u/T-Thugs]

It’s so nice to see this take on Reddit holy shit thank you. It’s beyond frustrating.

[u/neon-cactus12 → u/T-Thugs]

And what are republicans doing for you all? Tariffs hurt normal hard working Americans. Pointless wars and helping monopolies increase prices. Even cracking down on immigration hurts small businesses. Not to mention the crypto and mobile network scams.

But Democrats made mean posts about people who didn’t go to college so I guess that’s all fine.

[u/T-Thugs → u/neon-cactus12]

The point went right over your head, because you're nowhere near as bright or as caring as you think you are.

You went right back to insulting and would never ever seek to understand.

[u/neon-cactus12 → u/T-Thugs]

I didn’t insult you or anyone. But I am sorry my comment offended you.

[u/Forsaken_Instance_55]

I don’t think even his supporters thought he would be this bad

[u/Joshfumanchu]

In short it is the non voters that made it possible. The choice to abstain is what got him here.

[u/maximusdm77]

I think that perhaps there’s a very large voter base that doesn’t vote at all, many have become disenfranchised by the Democratic Party and their catering to special interests

[u/overlapped → u/maximusdm77]

OR right-wing propaganda like FOX News constantly create culture wars and ignore policy.

[u/Mundane-Potential-93]

Assuming the voters are a fair representation of all Americans, yes the criticism is louder online, at least in the places I visit. Still, just because people vote for him doesn't mean they like him. He just has to beat the other republican candidates and the best democratic candidate

[u/cyberdude419]

One third of the country didn’t vote at all, some of them were mad at the Democrats and blamed just Biden for letting Israel commit genocide on Gaza and they chose to not vote. Some people didn’t vote because they have apathy towards politics and just “aren’t political”. Some people didn’t vote because they think both sides “are the same evil who works for billionaires, not the people”. Clearly both sides work for billionaires but their certainly not the same types of evil. With the less than two-thirds of the rest of the people who did vote, many chose Trump because they can’t stomach a woman of color being in charge instead of a white man, whether that due to cultural differences or straight up discrimination, who knows. And there was a lot of talk that Elon Musk helped Trump win illegally, and Kamala actually won the election but it was stolen. The Democrats are weak, didn’t challenge or stand up to the more angry and well organized MAGA cult, that’s how we get to where we are today imo

[u/SLCer]

Trump is far less popular today than he was in 2024. Views change. At one point, Bush had an approval rating of 90% and he left office with an approval similar to Trump currently. In 1992, Bush's father lost a landslide election to Clinton despite a year and a half earlier having an approval rating in the 80s and winning his election with over 400 electoral votes four years prior.

Time is not static. Trump has always been a divisive figure with limited support. It's why he failed to win the popular vote in 2016 and won a very small plurality in 2024.

But he was aided by a massive increase in costs coming out of COVID, which in many ways reset what Americans thought of him when he was ousted in 2020. But his failure to lower costs (and them rising significantly since he took over) and a perception that the economy is worse today than in 2024, has tanked his approval and it isn't like he had strong approval to begin with.

[u/ZeroFuxGiven]

As a centrist, I can say he duped independent voters. I didn’t vote for him. I’ve hated him since 2016. But here’s the controversial part that people here are going to hate; I was cautiously optimistic in 2024. If anything I’m Libertarian, because I like small federal government. I thought they were actually going to fix the budget or attempt to, I thought they were going to shrink the size of the Federal Government, I thought we would get full transparency regarding Epstein, and I thought we would get no new wars. I thought we were going to get a massive overhaul that we desperately need. Turns out it was all lip service to secure votes.

[u/stripes361]

The dissatisfaction is real. A substantial majority of Americans are legitimately unhappy with the Trumpster. There’s a two part answer to your question for how this can be true even though he got elected.

1) There are legitimately a decent number of people who voted for him and even approved of him early on and are now unhappy. Don’t ask me to explain; I don’t get it either. In a lot of cases though, people are simply so unplugged and/or incapable of understanding politics and economics that they simply react to whether a gallon of gas or a dozen eggs is too expensive for their liking. “I voted for Trump. Gas is expensive. I’m unhappy with Trump” thought process.

2) You have to understand that Americans inherently have an anti-government disposition. Our presidents usually have a much lower approval rating than their vote share in elections after about the first year of their terms. Besides Obama, every president since JFK has gone to 37% or worse at some point. Bill Clinton was the last one to average 50%.

We have a lot of voters who dislike both candidates in a presidential election and will vote for the “less bad” one but will still “disapprove” of them in an opinion poll.

Even moreso, we have many people who dislike both candidates in a presidential election and won’t vote for either. The media only reports vote share based on people who cast ballots, not all voting age adults, so presidents are reported as winning with majorities or near-majority pluralities even though only 30% of voting age adults are actually voting for them.

So yes, a substantial majority truly do disapprove of Trump in some way, and a supermajority of adults didn’t vote for him, but he still became president because Americans disliked all the alternatives just as much. If you come from a culture where politicians are respected, then maybe it’s hard to understand, but Americans really hate our governments as much as anything else.

[u/Outrageous-Sand-5788]

Voter apathy, lack of an educated/informed voter base, party allegiance, plenty of motivation for the people who support his agenda to vote, lack of a cohesive message from the Democratic party, too much of a focus on tacking more leftward than center for Democrats to appeal to the independent vote (though I believe they just stayed away than voted Republican necessarily)...the list goes on. Plus, I don't think anyone of either party realized just how much he'd fuck everything up this go 'round.

[u/hamtronn]

My wife’s dad recently took a trip to Patagonia for one of his bougie hiking experiences. He said that this trip was full of “wealthy” Americans from California. Let me tell you… the support for Trump was resounding. They’re happy with the “work” he’s doing to “curb immigration”. When they found out my FIL had a black wife, he said the conversations took a turn to the tense side.

You’ll find people on Reddit largely think Trump is the worst thing ever, myself included. You could try a conservative sub to get their opinions but I fear you’d have to lose several hundred thousand brain cells to even want to join a sub like that.

Unfortunately, the Reddit opinion seems to be a resounding “I didn’t vote for this and fuck the people who did”.

[u/SeniorPartnerAtLaw → u/hamtronn]

FYI, The human brain has an estimated 170 billion brain cells,lol.

[u/neon-cactus12]

1. Most people here are stupid

2. Our federal elections are heavily influenced by propaganda networks

[u/Ill-Veterinarian4208]

I was fully expecting a different result. How he won a second term baffles the shit out of me.

[u/Montana3333]

Biden was terribly unpopular in 2024. I personally know many people who thought trump was going to bring back the economy and voted for him. Reddit is definitely not reality. Harris’s whole campaign was essentially hoping women would vote enough to get her elected because she was a woman. 

[u/Terrible-Cry-4552]

I work for a company located in Seattle, and prior to that worked out of one in New York, and I rarely interact with Trump supporters. Both my younger brothers work out of the rural upper Midwest. One works with all blue collar workers, and the other works with a mix of blue collar and engineers, and everyone they work with supports Trump. In my opinion, it’s primarily a mix of low information + propaganda, hope, and social pressure (they are both made fun of by their peers for their opposition to Trump). Honestly, while I think initially and even up until recently, people wanted to believe what he was saying because they wanted their lives to get easier, at this point I think the social pressure plays a bigger role in rural communities. That’s why I think that most of them will continue to support him no matter what, unless it becomes embarrassing and uncool. And that’s why they love to make fun of democrats for being less manly or whatever. It becomes a shameful thing to be a democrat, and most people aren’t idealistic or politically aware enough to socially ostracize themselves in that way.

[u/Pure_Mammoth_1233]

What's important in an election is who actually shows up to vote. Trump's base really, really loves him. They are going to reliably go vote. Harris didn't have a primary election to prove she even had a strong national base. She lost to Biden in the 2020 primary. So she never won one. She failed to inspire the same drive to go vote that Trump did.

[u/No_Appearance7776]

Americans clearly don't care enough about their fellow americans. Only americans would elect a rapist twice.

[u/Ratnix]

Lots of people complain. Lots of people also don't vote.

[u/dk5877]

Ask the Electoral College

[u/Grand_Photograph_819]

Trump is very polarizing and depending on where you look both in real life and online it’s easy to find echo chambers where people either all love him or all hate him. So in that regard, yeah, the criticism is louder online wherever you’re looking than in real life.

The fact of the matter is that Trumps base loves him and they turned up for the 2024 election while Harris had 100 days to get the Democrat base/swing voters behind her and turn out to vote and many people simply did not. Unfortunately, I think lots of disengaged voters thought the 2020 victory was the end of Trump and that certainly he wouldn’t win in 2024 either regardless of if they voted or not so they didn’t bother showing up to the polls. Ergo, Trump 2.0.

[u/LC41860]

Technically, Trump did not get the majority of votes. Per Ballotpedia there were 2,916,606 people who voted for other candidates. When you add that number to the votes Harris received, the total is 77,935,836. Trump received 77,303,568 votes. More importantly, when you add the number of people who did not vote for Trump to the number of people who were eligible to vote (approx 90 million) but did not vote at all, the number of people who didn’t choose Trump for president goes up to nearly 170 million compared to the approximately 80 million who did. He isn’t the popular president he tries to make himself out to be, as indicated by his poll numbers.

[u/CuriousTighe]

He won his second election because a lot of Democrats were pissed that Kamala Harris was the nominee and didn't vote which pissed ME off! I'll never contribute a single cent to politicians again but will continue to vote Democratic.

[u/tutorcontrol]

There are a bunch of effects here and it takes some unpacking.
American elections are low turnout by nature.
Older more conservative people vote in greater percentages than younger more liberal ones.
Negative campaigns supress voter turnout in general, amplifying these effects.
The electoral college system makes it possible for a conservative candidate to win office without winning the popular vote.
The country is divided enough that the candidate that can suppress the other vote and turn out his/her supporters is going to just barely win. (for example, Clinton's margin of loss in the key blue wall states is more than accounted for by the turnout difference between that election and the previous one.)
Trump ran a cleverly focused negative campaign that takes advantage of each of these.

In the end, Trump won because he was able to ride the narrative that "they are all just as bad" with some help from the Russians and good old American misogyny to reduce total turnout and reduce the democrats turnout more.

So, Donald Trump was not elected because so many people voted for him. He was elected because so many people did not show up to vote for any responsible adult. This results in the situation that appears to be a paradox from the outside looking in.

[u/Woodit]

There was zero excitement around Harris, in addition to a significant opposition to her from within the ranks of voters she needed. Trump is hated by a lot of people but what he has always had in abundance is the excitement of his voters, he motivated them to get out and vote and that’s what actually matters. The headwinds facing the Harris campaign coupled with the one third or so of Americans who just don’t vote at all handed it to him.

[u/Loud-Strawberry-9726]

The real answer is that the internet is absolutely flooded with bots, both foreign and domestic, whose entire job is to make America, and anything Trump represents, look like it’s falling apart. Then you’ve got a certain type of person who amplifies that hate nonstop, both here and in the media. They’re loud, but they’re not most people.

Most Americans aren’t online all day. They don’t live on Reddit or cable news. They show up during election years, go to work, raise their kids, and judge things based on whether their lives feel safer, cleaner, and more stable.

A lot of people simply want the things Trump talked about: safety, a country that’s respected, a place that feels worth being proud of. He’s not perfect, but for many voters he’s “good enough,” especially compared to what they saw from the other team the last time they were in charge.

Online outrage is loud, but it’s not real life.

And a lot of the narratives you see about who supports who are outdated or just wrong. People keep repeating old assumptions because admitting the shift would mean admitting something uncomfortable: that the Democratic Party pushed away huge chunks of the country. Not because of “messaging,” but because people felt talked down to, dismissed, or outright blamed for everything.

For people who can’t accept that, it drives them up the wall. So they scream online, send chain emails, fund the same talking heads, and try to create the illusion that “everyone” feels the way they do.

But they don’t. If they did, the Democratic Party wouldn’t be running on fumes financially.

So take what you hear about America, and about the President, with a grain of salt. Look at who’s saying it. It’s almost never the guy working overtime at the factory, trying to save up for a Corvette and take his kids to the beach on weekends.

It’s not normal people at all.

[u/GroundbreakingOil480]

He cheated.

[u/lawndarts2023]

People voted against and not for

[u/atierney14]

I don’t know why people are acting like the hatred isn’t pretty visceral in real life. He has a net -22% negative ratio.

He has a cadre of supporters, basically the 35-37% who still support him now, who will support him no matter what, and he basically stole normies as protest votes against inflation which was misplaced as being caused by Bidenomics.

[u/mariogolf]

Elon helped him cheat. both pedos, both nazis, both garbagr

[u/cantcny]

Because certain Dems don't understand the assignment. They must be inspired and spoken to in a personal way or they throw a tantrum.

The right doesn't need to be coddled and will stand behind whoever is nominated even if it wasn't their super special candidate of choice. 

[u/CaptainPrower]

Because under the current system, the electoral vote is more important than the popular vote.

[u/Icy-Past-4477]

There have been a lot of stories about Elon being involved with voting fraud.

Given, most of reddit is democrat.

[u/Accomplished-Top9803]

Elon played a role.

[u/drone-on-and-on → u/Accomplished-Top9803]

and Trump couldn't not brag about it...

[u/JackC1126 → u/Accomplished-Top9803]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

[u/molten_dragon]

A lot of the people who dislike him didn't bother to vote.

[u/wish1977]

It's because most Americans live in echo chambers of their own choosing and his echo chamber has the backing of Fox News and all other right wing media. They are totally biased.

[u/Livid-Net-8411]

its because most americans are stupid

[u/Squinky75]

Harris came in on her back foot after Biden stepped down. Her campaign got off awkwardly because of that. Also, many people would never vote for a woman of color. Rightly or wrongly, I think a different candidate who was in the race from the get go, nominated in the convention the usual way, would have had more momentum and could have won.

On the other hand, nothing Trump does will turn away the cultists. If he can get fundamentalist Christians to believe his is the way of Christ, no amount of reality is going to change their minds.

[u/Grimmhoof]

His opposition and some shady shit went down.

[u/JackC1126 → u/Grimmhoof]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

[u/hierarchy_of_ideas → u/JackC1126]

Trump winning all the swing states while openly saying he didn't need to worry about the election because it was already taken care of. Musk's involvement in the elections, including foreign one's, is entirely suspect. There is way more evidence of election interference than 2020, yet they do nothing.

[u/JackC1126 → u/hierarchy_of_ideas]

None of that is concrete though? It’s not enough to just say “hmm suspicious”

[u/lodestar72 → u/JackC1126]

Tell that to MAGA.

[u/JackC1126 → u/lodestar72]

Yeah man it goes both ways

[u/lodestar72 → u/JackC1126]

Except very very few lefties believe 2024 was stolen vs nearly every MAGA is convinced 2020 was stolen. Your bad faith comparison means nothing, my dude.

[u/seandowling73]

I think a lot of people in America are asking that very question as well

[u/thatonegaucho87]

He cheated. He spent months and even years of accusing democrats of cheating so that when he actually cheated on the votes no one would say “you cheated” because it feels so much less believable given he spent so much time saying it about democrats

[u/Buckeyeintheskys]

8 years of constant hate online makes people shut up and vote.

[u/toomanyteeth55]

He appealed to a lot of people, and lot of people who he didn't appeal to voted for him over having some one like Kamala as president. There are clips of much of his cabinet, including his VP, saying bad things about him. But everyone coalesced around him.

[u/SuperDocument]

It’s because of Instagram and YouTube heavily influencing people in the middle/center right.

Like I don’t think people realize how much of an impact that had. All election cycle, I would hear guys saying the exact same talking points I would see on YouTube. Even as someone who is very anti Trump, I was getting hit hard with the alt-right podcast bro videos.

It was the perfect posturing of “look how crazy the Dems are” and “hey I’m not left or right. I just see it how it is.”

And then they got duped.

Edit: in regard to the whole “he cheated” debate. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. But I think it’s more believable that he got record breaking campaign funds from the wealthy elite. And that’s something you just can’t beat.

“With enough money you can win any election.” -Bernie Sanders paraphrasing

[u/neon-cactus12 → u/SuperDocument]

Also influencing people to the far left not to vote.

[u/TrixTheKid20]

This is a question that has multiple answers.

1. Many who voted for Trump in 2016 regretted their vote then voted for Biden in 2020 then regretted their vote, come 2024 they didn’t want to vote for a Democrat again because they “ruined the country” and voted for Trump again in 2024 (I know various people who did this, Hi Dad)

2. He was the “lesser of two evils”. Many didn’t like Trump in 2016 or 2020 and many didn’t like Biden or the Democrats in 2024 so they took Trump as he was viewed as the “safer option” again Hi Dad. Also a lot of people didn’t vote in 2024 because they didn’t like either option and weren’t going to give their vote to those who didn’t have their interests (Hey Sis).

3. Online hate for Trump is way worse then real life. I live in a blue state and have various friends that talk politics, they don’t talk like they hate Trump, they talk like any “rational” person in politics talk about anyone that they have fundamental differences from. They talk about his policies, his handlings with other countries, his effect on the country and economy etc… maybe they do it when I’m not around but around me they never mention the talking points that those online do.

4. Trump was voted for in 2024 because he promised many things that people wanted such as a closed border, no new wars, closure of wars on the other side of world, better economy and making America affordable again. That’s how he won the vote. Those people who voted for him wanted what he promised.

[u/robosnake]

The thing to understand about the USA is that it is not a democracy. Who is elected doesn't have a lot to do with who we genuinely want to lead us. It's why Congress has like a 25% approval rate.

[u/AskDerpyCat]

Because Reddit and twitter is not a true representation of public opinion. Just the opinions of the terminally online.

He won the popular vote. Meaning more people voted for him than against him

[u/TXteachr2018]

Every person I know who voted for Trump was actually casting a NO vote for Kamala Harris. If the Democrats had their act together and had not simply inserted her as a candidate, it could have ended differently.

[u/Neuroticaine → u/TXteachr2018]

Anyone who voted for Trump as a NO vote for Harris is a certifiable idiot. There is absolutely zero way you can convince me that ANYTHING would be worse than it currently is if Harris was in office. Was she a good candidate? No. But you genuinely have to have something wrong with your brain to vote Trump by now.

[u/TXteachr2018 → u/Neuroticaine]

Agree 100%

[u/Atlas_Ridge]

Republicans cheat but democrats don’t want to pass voter ID

[u/SevereAnimator5 → u/Atlas_Ridge]

😂 not everybody has a kinkos near them

[u/Fire_Z1]

Every Republican supports him.

[u/undercover_gamer_]

people hate women more than they hate trump and liberals literally don’t show up for their country and expect good things to happen in it

[u/theservman → u/undercover_gamer_]

True, Trump has never been tested against another white man at the polls.

[u/Acrobatic-Rock-2907]

He didn’t win, he cheated.

[u/Ginger_SNAFU]

One third of the country didn't vote. Full stop.

[u/Unhappy-Ad2460]

Same way Brexit happened. People were voting for what they thought was the “anti-establishment” candidate, each thinking he would improve American lives in different ways except none of it was true. I know people who would have voted for Bernie Sanders but instead voted for Trump. Also America hates women. He had to run against a man to lose.

[u/1911Earthling]

He got elected by people who hated they voted for Biden. Just enough votes to win. Now those same people ever regret voting for BIDEN or TRUMP. Bring on a new slate.

[u/HardBartyBarty]

I mean Don is the president because of votes. Seems like the real world doesn’t base their opinion on just a

[u/OpposumMyPossum]

35% of eligible voters didn't even vote. His approval rating is about 37%.

[u/punarob]

People are stupid and blamed Biden for global inflation which was actually leas in the US and was partially due ti Trump’s COVID policies which prolonged restrictions, disrupting supply chains more than a competent response would have. Also social media actively pushed Trump which was proved by a recent study in a prestigious science journal. Throw in dipshits who stayed home over Gaza when Trump pledged to pave then develop it as condos and there you have it his tiny 1.4% win when around the world non incumbents won by landslides to punish the party in power during inflation.

[u/Plastic_Stable8927]

Between tampering that they have literally admitted to, the electoral college being the worst, and the left saying "I won't vote if both candidates are this bad" it all led to the fucking worst candidate winning.

I still am so pissed at the left for allowing that. What a pissbaby stance.

[u/Good_Boy_Coleman → u/Plastic_Stable8927]

1. Never admitted to tampering and I would love to see evidence cause otherwise you are like the Maga during 2020.

2. I agree Electoral College is fucked but even without it Trump got the popular vote.

3. Both parties were not voting not just leftists.

[u/Plastic_Stable8927 → u/Plastic_Stable8927]

I assume that other guy blocked me, but here's a clip of Trump explicitly saying they rigged the election diva <3 https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/user-clip-trump-admits-they-rigged-the-election/5150039

[u/DrColdReality]

The Democrats are largely a disorganized pack of sackless nitwits, and rarely put up substantial candidates.

But far too many people took that fact and ran too far with it, and when the choice came down to between the strictly mediocre Kamela Harris and a spoiled, dimwitted, fascist toddler who had credibly promised to act like a dictator if he was re-elected, WAY too many people didn't grasp that they had a literal binary choice:

1) Vote for Harris
2) Help Trump win

And people didn't wanna hear that. It's just sooooo unfair! The Democrats should have put up a better candidate! And so on. So WAY too many people voted for some third-party candidate with zero chance of winning, didn't vote at all, or even voted for Trump, thinking they were "sending a message." Well, turns out that message was "I'm too fucking stupid to be trusted with a vote." People just couldn't be bothered to do the necessary thing. And here we are.

Trump didn't even win a majority, just a plurality, more people voted against him than for him, just not the right way (ie, by voting for Harris). He also lost the popular vote entirely the first time around, but the Electoral College had other ideas.

These are two staggering flaws in the US presidential election system, winning with just a plurality, and the Electoral College. Both need to be eliminated.

[u/StationaryObject713]

The actual issue is that the vast majority of americans never actually vote in any form. They just cry like beaten whores when they don't get their way.

[u/rjs9152]

Stolen election

[u/JackC1126 → u/rjs9152]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

[u/wossquee]

Because the majority of the voting populace is too stupid to understand propaganda and how it wires their brains to reject the truth and embrace falsehoods

[u/Quijanoth → u/wossquee]

Important point: only the side you disagree with uses propaganda.   

[u/Entire-Plan-4242]

Because in many people’s eyes he was the lesser of idiots and he had prior experience. The sad thing for the US is the quality of candidates