On Wednesday 6 November 2024, the day after the US presidential elections, the Phelan US Centre hosted the panel discussion event “The 2024 US election: turning point for America?” Aidan Dennehy gives an overview of the event and the Q&A segment.

On November 6th, 2024, the LSE Phelan US Centre hosted the event “The 2024 US election: turning point for America?”. In the wake of former President Trump’s re-election, Peter Trubowitz, Director of the Phelan US Centre and Professor of International Relations at LSE, chaired a discussion on the implications of the election’s outcome for the US and its commitments abroad. Joining Professor Trubowitz on the panel were Mukulika Banerjee, Professor of Social Anthropology at LSE; Keith Magee, Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor of Practice in Cultural Justice at University College London; and Joseph Sternberg, political economics columnist and editorial board member at the Wall Street Journal.

The event began with a brief presentation from Professor Trubowitz of notable results from the election. First, President Trump had secured a broad victory and outperformed his previous results with several key groups of voters. Data collected by exit polls showed that 45 percent of Latino Americans voted for Trump in 2024; a marked increase from the 32 percent who supported Trump in 2020. Many expected this election to be polarized by gender. While a higher proportion of men voted for President Trump than women, the ‘gender gap’ was actually smaller in 2024 than in 2020. While independent voters broke for Vice President Kamala Harris nationally, they failed to do so in swing states.

Election reflections

The panellists then shared some key takeaways from the election. Joseph Sternberg began by pointing out that this was not an unusual election. After high inflation, an incumbent party losing re-election is in line with precedent. He was surprised by two outcomes: that the economy did not cause President Trump to win by a larger margin and that we learned the results of the election so quickly. Professor Magee then emphasized the need to centre justice in this discussion and argued that Americans will have to develop channels of civil dialogue which can address issues of morality.

Offering advice to Democrats, Professor Magee felt that the party should focus on creating an inclusive economy and addressing poverty. He argued that the Democratic Party could cultivate a strong sense of moral character and broaden its support. Professor Banerjee agreed with the advice of tackling economic inequality and added that Democrats will have to foster civic engagement and strengthen democratic institutions constantly, rather than just during a campaign. Sternberg illustrated his advice with the recent campaign stop where President Trump ‘worked’ at McDonalds. He explained that it showed Trump engaging casually with customers and workers, a skill that, according to him, Vice President Harris and most Democrats lacked. The panellists disagreed over the usefulness of the McDonald’s example because of its staged nature.

The conversation then shifted to international issues. Broadly speaking, Professor Trubowitz felt that the re-election of Donald Trump would embolden anti-globalists and populists around the world. Professor Banerjee emphasized the president-elect’s consistent disregard for rules, which may inspire the same in other leaders. She warned about the dangers of populism and argued that Europe needed to be more serious about identifying and addressing its causes. Sternberg felt President Trump’s planned tariffs would have detrimental effects, but ultimately were unlikely to be implemented because of his record of pursuing ‘consensus’ foreign policy. Given the progress European countries have made on NATO’s two percent defence spending goal, Sternberg was hopeful relations could improve between President Trump and Europe.

Audience Q&A

The panellists then moved on to the Q&A segment of the event. Questions came from enthusiastic members of the live audience and those watching online from around the world. A broad range of topics were discussed, from what a future JD Vance presidency could look like, to who the Democrats might nominate in 2028.

• Listen to the podcast of the event, ‘The 2024 US election: turning point for America?’ [LSE Player]
• Subscribe to LSE USAPP’s email newsletter to receive a weekly article roundup.
• Please read our comments policy before commenting.
• Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor the London School of Economics. 
• Shortened URL for this post: https://wp.me/p3I2YF-ewP