Also add the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts, both of which are taking up resources and make people apprehensive that they might expand into wider conflict. I also think the Gaza conflict hurt Harris because a lot of Dems in the liberal wing supported Palestine, or at least disliked our strong support of Israel.Inflation, or rather prices, were absolutely an issue.
Immigration has been an issue forever, neither party wanted to address it, finally a bipartisan bill was proposed too late in the election cycle with zero incentive for the GOP to support it.
The gender stuff was just easy stuff to attack Dems with.
But really, the bill came due for inflation and the border, and someone had to pay.
Inflation, I agree, definitely an issue. It was especially bad because from the late Obama presidency until covid hit, we were in an unprecedented period of growing real wages, low unemployment, lack of any major international conflict, and low interest rates. I dont hold Biden completely blameless. The stimulus packages passed by both him and Trump were needed, but obviously (in hindsight), pumping trillions of dollars into an economy that was shut down to a large extent was going to lead to inflation. The only thing I blame Biden and the Dems for is claiming inflation was a temporary problem when it obviously was not, and waiting too long to raise interest rates. And yes, I know the president does not set monetary policy directly, but he does appoint the chairman of the Federal Reserve, so one would assume he has considerable influence in setting policy. The old trick of the party out of power saying "Are you better off than 4 years ago" was very effective. Unfortunately nobody asked the real question "Would Trump have done any better?" Impossible to say, but most probably not.