In the past, Democrats have often said that, “When we vote, we win!” Judging from the 2024 elections, one could add the logical contrapositive; that is, “When we do not win, (Democrats) did not vote.” Simple vote tallies (from usnews.com) offer stark comparisons vis-a-vis the 2020 and 2024 presidential election data.

Comparing the national voter turnout (66 percent of 240,628,443 age-eligible voters) in the 2020 presidential race, to 2024 (64 percent of 244,666,690 eligible), approximately nine-plus million fewer eligible voters cast ballots. 

In 2024, Trump improved his past performance over 2020 by about 2.5 million votes (76.8m). Harris totaled 74.4 million votes—a number that is significantly less than Biden’s record-breaking 81.5 million total in the 2020 race. As you might know, the margin in 2024 was a 1.6 percent popular-vote victory for former President Trump over current vice-president Harris. 

Of course, some of the votes that Harris lost went from Democrats directly to Trump, but a sizeable number of 2020 voters in 2024 did not even cast ballots. If just a few million of the seven-plus million Biden voters of 2020 who were no-shows in 2024 had cast ballots for Harris, she would have handily won the 2024 popular vote. 

Nonetheless, in our archaic and largely anti-democratic Electoral College voting system, one that gerrymanders against simple majority rule, she would have likely lost the election, anyway. 

While there is no Republican mandate in what was a historically close race, Harris lost by tiny margins in many state contests—sort of a “death by a thousand cuts.” Similarly, in Congress, Republicans completed their sweep of federal control, gaining small majorities in both houses.

In the long campaign before November, Democrats ridiculed the little and extreme policy that Trump and Republican MAGA offered—tariffs, mass migrant expulsions, more tax cuts for the ultrarich, etc.—while Republicans claimed not to care much about policy, believing that Trump would just “fix it.” 

Now, we are entering a time when, of necessity, “fix it” must become operational and MAGA will have to deliver to the American people. Biden/Harris gave us continuing long-term transformational infrastructure projects and left us with a sound economy. What will a second Trump presidency lead us to? 

My only wish is that we all pay attention and believe what we live and not what we are told that we are living. Thus we will know whom to praise and whom to blame for whatever transpires. I am cautiously excited for our future.

John Pace, a retired math professor, lives in Honesdale, PA.