Some years ago, I read a book written by economists who said the nation’s economy has been the major factor in most presidential elections, and it was definitely true Tuesday.

Political columnists and analysts say Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory proves he has appealed to this nation’s working class, which has always been the key to Democratic Party success.

Liberal U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said in a statement reported by USA Today, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lost because “the deck was stacked against her.” One definition of that phrase says it means “they are unlikely to succeed in what they want to do because the conditions are not favorable.”

What are those conditions?

This country’s economy is improving but for much of Democratic Joe Biden’s term inflation was out of sight. Even worse, prices of almost everything people buy have been high and continue to be too high.

Almost everyone knew Biden was too old to try for a second term, but he stubbornly refused to drop out of the race until it was too late. And when he did, the Democratic Party failed to consider others besides Harris who might take his place.

Biden failed during most of his term to get a handle on immigration and millions of people flooded across the border from many other countries. He finally slowed down the invasion, but it was too late.

The U.S. departure from Afghanistan was much like the disastrous retreat from Vietnam many years ago, and 13 Americans lost their lives. The Advocate reported in September that Louisiana district attorneys are trying to help more than 3,700 former Afghan justice sector workers who helped the U.S. who were left behind and 57 of them have been killed since 2021.

The Associated Press said Biden will leave office after bringing the country out of a pandemic, continuing military aid to Ukraine and passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will impact communities for years to come. However, none of that overcomes those failures that helped cost Democrats the election.

Columnist George Will in a Thursday column said Democrats “should have remembered the warning attributed to their hero Franklin D. Roosevelt (regarding Gen. Douglas MacArthur): ‘Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself,’” an obvious reference to Trump.

John McGlennon, who teaches American politics at the College of William and Mary, told NPR in an Election Day story,  “Vice presidents are pretty successful at gaining their party’s nomination for president. But they’re less successful at actually winning elections.”

NPR said only 15 of the 49 vice presidents in this country’s history have become president. Eight of them got there after the death of the incumbent president. Gerald Ford became president when Richard Nixon, his predecessor, became the first president to resign.

Since 1933, 91 years ago, 15 of 18 vice presidents have launched their own presidential campaigns. The only five who succeeded were Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Joe Biden. Johnson succeeded John F. Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963 and won a full term in 1964.

McGlennon said the Harris nomination was unusual since she didn’t compete in a primary. He said the closest modern example is Hubert Humphrey in 1968 who was nominated by the Democratic Party leadership when Johnson made the decision very late in his administration not to seek re-election.

Nixon won the 1968 election with 301 electoral votes and he had 31.8 million popular votes (43.4%). Humphrey had 191 electoral votes and 31.3 million popular votes (42.7%). George Wallace had 45 electoral votes and 9.9 million popular votes (13.5%).

Trump won Tuesday with 295 electoral votes and 72.8 million popular votes (50.9%). Harris received 226 electoral votes and 68.1 million popular votes (47.6%).

Perhaps the most accurate thing McGlennon said about vice presidents definitely hurt Harris.

McGlennon said, “VPs can also be weighed down by the accumulation of whatever grievances might exist about an ongoing administration and whatever sense there is that it’s important to make change.”

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.

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