Native Americans Voted for Trump By a Stunning Margin
Native Americans supported Donald Trump by a 2-1 margin, data show.
I recently wrote an article that pointed out Gen X delivered the election to Donald Trump, voting for him over Kamala Harris by a 53-45% margin.
As I explained, after elections, there’s always an abundance of data on voting patterns, and the data can sometimes tell interesting stories, though we should be careful in how we interpret it. (More on that in a minute.)
Writing about generational voting patterns was interesting and fun. Writing about voting patterns along racial and gender lines is a bit trickier, because I think we tend to focus a bit too much on race and gender in America today.
Additionally, there has already been a ton of ink spilled on this front, with numerous stories exploring how Trump won over Latino voters (see above), did historically well with black men, yada yada.
So I wasn’t going to offer yet another take on this front—until I noticed something that hasn’t been discussed. The racial demographic that supported Trump the most is a story that has flown under the radar.
Now, I’m willing to bet that almost everyone reading this article would assume that the racial group that supported Trump the most was white people. I certainly would have guessed that.
Alas, it was not. It was Native Americans.
Exit polling from NBC News shows that 65% of American Indians voted for Trump, compared to 34% for Harris.
This statistic blew my mind, and it’s an important reminder that the narratives we construct around race and politics are usually baloney, as the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald recently pointed out.
“Whatever narratives people try to construct about Trump and the 2024 election, just don't ever forget that 1 out of every 4 Black men in the US, and half of Latino men (and 40% of Latino women) voted for Trump,” Greenwald wrote. “As did a majority of white women and 45% of women generally.”
To be crystal clear, I’m not suggesting people should support Trump or his policies (which are a very mixed bag). I don’t give a damn if people like him or don’t. I don’t care if you voted for Kamala Harris, Jill Stein, or Chase whatever (I’ve already forgotten his name).
What I’m saying is we need to stop implying that people have a “duty” to support someone because of their race, sex, sexual preference, etc. This is nonsense. You are responsible to your self. Reject the class warriors and collectivists who see group identity as preeminent. That’s a path to the Dark Side. We’re all God’s children, nothing less.
As far as the huge number of Native Americans who voted for Trump, I won’t claim to know their motivation. But I do know that American Indian reservations are the most poverty-stricken lands in America today and have been for a long, long time.
If Native Americans believe that Trump can fix some of the dreadful federal policies and regulations (read about them here) that have harmed these people for generations, more power to them.
That is a bitter pill to swallow for the Democrats ... !!!
Didn’t know that- about the Native American vote. The category (race, sex etc.)take on the election results has been extreme. Apparently there is a whole class of pundits who think if you’re in a particular category you’re obliged to vote for a candidate who is in that category regardless of your opinions or analysis of your interests.If you don’t, you’re dumb or evil.It’s quite a take on things.It’s also hypocritical and inconsistent. A “ progressive “ white man running against a BIPOC woman is always to be preferred. Here we can actually employ the Marxist idea of false consciousness. Any BIPOC or woman who votes Right, is obviously a victim of false consciousness. Their opinions can be dismissed.This is very pernicious stuff. It lends its self to Leninist vanguardism. If the people are weighed down with false consciousness, then they must be lead and be ruled by those who aren’t.You can see this logic in the endless prattle about our democracy and how it must be saved via undemocratic means.True democracy isn’t about elections and majorities, it (ala Rousseau )should reflect the general will and that is embodied in an enlightened vanguard who expresses it through their control.The people who prattle about this stuff generally have little knowledge of these theories per se but there’s a trickle down effect. AOC would probably think Rousseau is the name of a French Wine( she did work at The Coffee Shop on Union Square) but the idea is planted right in her head.