Politics makes for strange bedfellows. US political minds will remind themselves of this fact as the dust settles on the US elections, with some results showing that a few voters were able to support Donald Trump and progressive-oriented Democratic candidates at the same time.
In New York’s Bronx, a heavily Black, Asian and Latino community, Trump’s support rose 11 points to 33% in 2020, one of the largest margins citywide. At the same time, left-wing Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won 68.9% of the vote, returning her to Congress for a fourth consecutive term.
Welcome to the 2024 vote-splitting phenomenon, another sign of a restless American electorate determined to reject “business as usual” in Washington and vote to shake up a self-interested two-party system whose they often think it only pays lip service to their concerns.
Trump and Ocasio-Cortez, whose politics are polar opposites on almost every issue, were seen by at least some voters as having something very important: an anti-establishment authenticity.
“They are a good counterbalance to each other,” said Mamé, 66, a West African man on his way to a doctor’s appointment in the Bronx. “He’s a bully who won’t accept them. She is a fighter, progressive and she loves democracy.”
A Dominican Uber driver named Robin said Trump was better on the economy and security, but Ocasio-Cortez was better on democracy. “The last three years were not good economically: half a million immigrants coming to New York got a hotel and money, and I was working 60 hours a week with three children.”
Last week, Ocasio-Cortez herself urged her own followers on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – about the vote split between her and Trump. “I actually want to learn from you, I want to hear what you thought,” she said.
Many, in response to her call, said there was no contradiction between supporting Trump and the outspoken Democratic socialist.
“I feel like you’re both outsiders compared to the rest of DC, and less ‘establishment,’” said one. Another says: “you are both pushing boundaries and forcing growth.” And: “It’s very simple… You and Trump are taking care of the working class.”
“You’re focused on the real issues that people care about. Similar to Trump’s populism in some ways,” said a fourth. Finally, a respondent says: “You identified change. Trump meant change. I’ve been saying lately that Trump is more like you.
Ocasio-Cortez, who last week removed her pronouns from her business concentrates interests [and] billionaires. and puts their needs above those of working Americans.”
The exchanges on
To some extent, the phenomenon of the Bronx split-ticket vote was repeated in the US. The Republicans convincingly won the White House and the Senate. But in the House of Representatives, Democrats more or less held their own. (Split-ticket voting had an impact, but it still left the House narrowly under Republican control.)
“People are looking for people who will shake up the system and fight for a bold agenda, so they vote for candidates who are different and have a clear agenda that falls outside the norms of our political system,” said Jasmine Gripper, co-director of the New York Working Families party.
“Trump is not a career politician and challenges the system, and AOC does that in a different way. Their approaches, philosophies and values are very different, but they both represent a change from the status quo that voters reject.”
In 2018, Trump was among the first to recognize AOC’s rise, warning Joe Crowley, the 10-term Democrat she defeated for the nomination, about her natural political abilities. Crowley later reflected that Trump’s victory two years earlier had contributed to Ocasio-Cortez’s election.
“It has lit a fire in the foundation of our party, and I think in many ways that’s a good thing,” he said.
Trump and Ocasio-Cortez, native New Yorkers and Democrats in their origin stories, have often proven to be perfect sparring partners, with an innate understanding of how to get under each other’s skin and clap back at each other on social media (AOC has 8.1 million Instagram followers).
She has called Trump a “racist visionary” and said he is “afraid” of strong Latino women. He immediately insulted her, albeit mixed with compliments. “Look, she’s fake, and honestly, she knows it. But she has a good case – a good case for her,” Trump said in August. “She’s got a spark, I’ll say that. A good spark, which is actually quite amazing.”
Both know the value of a political stunt. AOC wore a white dress with the message “tax the rich” in red at the Met Gala, where tables cost $450,000. “The medium is the message,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Instagram, quoting Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan.
But the Democrat’s ultra-progressive group in Congress, known as “the Squad,” did not fare so well under the softer liberalism of the Biden-Harris administration. Two of the group are no longer in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, Ocasio-Cortez was a good soldier for Harris and before her, Joe Biden, who supported both and campaigned enthusiastically.
But it’s too early to tell to what extent progressives will be emboldened by the phenomenon of split-ticket voting and whether it will herald a move away from traditional party elites as Democrats try to regroup in the next four years. political wilderness. There are certainly those who think the party needs a dose of economic populism and charismatic outsiders to lead it.
“What is clear is that we must compete in a new information environment that Trump understands, that Democrats struggle with and that AOC is a genius at,” said Billy Wimsatt of the Movement Voter Project. “We need candidates and leaders that people believe in and see as authentic and not as manufactured politicians.”
But perhaps more worrying for Democrats are people like 30-year-old Bronx resident Carlos Thomas. “I supported Donald because he was in business, but I liked the girl he was against [also]” he said.
But he – like tens of millions of other Americans in an election where turnout fell – simply failed to vote.
