As Americans watched the polls close on Election Day 2024, many expected a prolonged wait, endless analysis, and likely recounts. Pollsters and pundits painted a confident picture for Kamala Harris, with the final days’ momentum trending in her favor. Yet major outlets insisted that a decision might take days, if not longer, and some even speculated on scenarios where votes would be contested. But, by the next morning, America had a decisive winner — Donald J. Trump.
On-air media personalities were left scrambling to explain the results. For months, they had been running cover for President Joe Biden, then Vice President Kamala Harris. Legacy media refused to ask tough questions of the Democrat ticket while demonizing not just Donald Trump, but his supporters as well.
Leading up to the election, news cycles were saturated with predictions that Republicans would fall short and ominous warnings that Trump supporters would violently dispute a Harris win. Instead, the media’s predictions missed the mark entirely.
How could the media get things so wrong? Legacy media has dug its own grave, fueled by a mixture of being deliberately misleading and truly disconnected.
Deliberately Misleading
Journalism has become weaponized for the benefit of the elite. This is why Trump aptly coined the nickname “Fake News!” For some time now, comparing MSNBC to Fox News coverage has looked like a comparison of two alternate universes. In the weeks and months before Election Day, this divide only deepened with the presentation of what we now know was inaccurate polling.
As Dr. Al Mohler aptly stated, “Polls are not only instruments of political measurement—they are also weapons of political warfare.” In this case, polling wasn’t just a misstep in measurement; polls were used to build and sustain the media’s carefully crafted narrative. “Data” was wielded in such a way that it often discouraged, rather than informed, voters.
The echo chamber created by media outlets leaned on familiar voices, relied on flawed models, and overlooked the sentiments of millions of everyday Americans. Legacy media abandoned its longstanding journalistic standards of presenting objective, accurate, and impartial reporting and, in doing so, deliberately attempted to mislead Americans.
Truly Disconnected
The media wasn’t just misleading; it was also truly disconnected. The assumption that American voters could be easily swayed by one-sided narratives not only ignores the complexity of the issues, but it highlights the media’s detachment from the concerns and motivations of everyday Americans.
Rather than listening, the media machine, in lockstep with the Democratic Party, continued pushing its preferred storyline, assuring the public that a Harris win was likely, if not inevitable. Painting the Harris campaign as a joyful campaign of “freedom” and “good vibes” was so out of touch with reality that Americans outright rejected the notion.
This election should be a wake-up call for our national media: they don’t understand the American people one bit. Even The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin admitted the disconnect. In a moment of reflection, she called the results map “Beyond [Ronald] Reagan” and stated, “It is a moment to listen to the voters… we need to start listening more about the concerns of everyday Americans who feel like this system has failed them.”
