Whit Ayres: Republican Pollster on Donald Trump's success and Kamala Harris' failure in the US Election

Donald Trump is once again Commander in Chief, and now the 45th and 47th President of the United States. 

He becomes the first former president to return to the White House in more than 130 years and, at 78, the oldest man elected to America's highest office. 

Trump has beaten Kamala Harris in both the Electoral College and the popular vote. 

Republican pollster Dr Whit Ayres told Kerre Woodham that Harris was always on a bit of a hiding to nothing coming in after Biden’s messy exit.  

He says that she was effectively running for Biden’s second term, especially with her inability to articulate a clearly different direction for the administration. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Mornings podcast from News
Talk sed B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Donald Trump is once again commander in Chief and now
the forty fifth and forty seventh president of the United States.
He becomes the first former president to return to the
White House in more than one hundred and thirty years,
and at seventy eight, the oldest man elected to America's
highest office. He's beat in Kamala Harrison both the electoral

(00:32):
College and the popular votes. Washington, DC political consultant doctor
Whittiers joins me. Now, a very good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And good morning to you, Cary.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
A lot of people are saying the pollsters and the
media got it all wrong, that Donald Trump was always
going to win and win easily. Was that a view
you subscribed to.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
No, No, the polls were actually quite good.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
They indicated that seven swing states would be very close
within the margin of error, and they were for the
most part, within two or three points. We have also
said that the few undecided voters tend to go one
way or the other at the end of races, and
we have said repeatedly that it wouldn't surprise any of

(01:19):
us if one of the candidates won six or seven
of the swing states, and it looks like that's exactly
what's going to happen. So the polls had it right
that it was a close race, but all the swing
states went one direction, which meant it wasn't at all
close in the electoral college exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
So what did Donald Trump do right? And I guess
what did Kamala Harris do wrong? And the campaign managers
do wrong? She was always on a bit of a
hiding to nothing coming in after Joe biden messy messi exit.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Presidential campaigns in America tend to be referenda on the incumbent,
and Kamala Harris was part of an administration stuck at
forty percent job approval. She was effectively running for Biden's
second term, especially with her inability to articulate a clearly
different direction. And no incumbent administration has gotten reelected with

(02:14):
job approval that low. That's the big picture of this election,
and I think it captures very much the dynamic of
what happened yesterday.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I think two from what I was reading is that
people hate being patronized, and you know, a lot of
people on the left were incredulous that black men would
vote for Donald Trump, and so now they call them
misogynist and that Hispanics would vote for Trump, and that
college educated people would vote for Trump. There's a lot

(02:44):
of patronizing kind of sneering at Trump voters, and I
don't think that works well.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
It doesn't work at all, and we've seen that repeatedly.
The fact is those minority members, African American and Hispanic
voters on the lower end of the income scale voted
for Donald Trump because they were remember the pre pandemic.
Trump economy is substantially better for them than the Biden
Harris economy because it was interest rates were a third

(03:15):
of what they are now, which means that mortgage rates
were a third of what they are now. Gas prices
were a dollar a gallon lower, and one hundred dollars
worth of groceries in twenty nineteen costs one hundred and
twenty five dollars today, And while inflation may have moderated,
those prices aren't going backwards. And so they voted for
Donald Trump because they believed that he was better for

(03:37):
them and their families on the economy.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, and ultimately it's all very well and good to
have high ideals and visions and you know, seeing yourself
as the savior of the free world. But when you
constituents are asking for security and their retirement and a
future for their kids, the high ideals tend to take
a back seat.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
That's right. That's right.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
And also the cultural values of the left in America
are far out of step with the values of the country,
especially on gender and issues. Americans just don't want genetic
males playing in women's sports, and they don't want taxpayer
funded sex changes for prisoners.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I think we call it gender affirming healthcare, doctor V
I had to google what that was. Oh, sex changes?

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Okay, got it right now, I know. Excuse me for
being so politically incorrect this morning.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I think you're allowed to be now that Donald Now
that the Donald is back, and the last time around,
for the at least for the first couple of years,
there were seasoned politicos in the White House that were
able to show Donald Trump, you know, the rules and
the boundaries, and the show him how the place worked.

(04:51):
I don't think he feels he will need that this
time around. Are there going to be any checks and
balances on what the forty seventh president will do given
he has you know, control of Congress and the popular
vote and.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
A nuclear codes. Yeah like that, not to mention, you
know a few little things like that.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh man. And he's going to be appointing, you know,
he is going to join this momp and a point
on his friends and supporters and what checks and balances
will there be?

Speaker 4 (05:25):
I think that depends upon the kinds of people who
end up in key positions in the administration. I have
no idea who he is going to appoint to key positions.
But if there are people of judgment and some wisdom
in place in key places like Secretary of State, Secretary

(05:46):
of Defense, attorney general, we'll see. I just don't know,
and I don't think anybody knows right now because we
don't know who's going to be in those positions.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
No, it's going to be incredibly interesting. The last time
Donald Trump was president, the sky did not fall in.
So you know there is a structure beneath the president,
isn't there that that may prove that can't be dismantled.
So things will proceed apace, won't they.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Well that's what his supporters are arguing, right although the
fact remains that he was impeached twice and acquitted twice,
and he is going to have a Republican controlled Senate
and maybe a Republican controlled House that will be anxious
to do whatever he wants done.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
So we'll have to see if their guardrails are not.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
It's going to be interesting, interesting times, isn't.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
It that it will? That it will for America as
well as the rest of the world.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, as a trading nation, we were a little nervous,
I have to say, But then Kamala Harris had also
signaled that they were becoming a little bit more protectionist
around imports, so you know, it was the writing was
pretty much on the wall. We're going to have to
take our goods to market.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
I think that's true of all of it.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, peddle our weirs around the world. I thank you
so much for your insights. Doctor whit is Republican Poster.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
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