Harris conceded the election and the Democrats began to blame him

Washington (AP) - U.S. Vice President Harry Harris conceded defeat and pledged to assist in a peaceful transition of power. The Democratic Party, which Harris belongs to, began to review the reasons for the defeat, and the blame game began, with the criticism of President Joe Biden especially sharp.

Harris lost to Republican former President Donald Trump in the presidential election on Tuesday (November 5), and after a night of precipitation, she delivered a concession speech at her Alma mater Howard University the following afternoon. "I admit I lost the election, but I didn't lose the fight to run."

She stressed that a fundamental principle of American democracy is that the loser must accept the result; This was clearly an allusion to Trump, who refused to concede after losing the 2020 election. She promised to continue to fight for women's rights, gun violence and the dignity that all people deserve.

Despite their acrimity during the campaign, Harris called Trump to congratulate him after all was said and done and promised to assist in a peaceful transition of power.

The Trump campaign said in a statement: "President Trump recognizes the strength, professionalism and tenacity that Harris has demonstrated throughout this campaign. Both leaders agreed that it was important to unite the country."

Biden and his predecessor Barack Obama also congratulated Trump on his election, and Biden invited Trump to the White House for a meeting soon. "President Biden committed to ensuring a smooth transition and emphasized the importance of working together to unite the country," the White House said.

Biden also praised Harris, saying, "She has integrity, courage, character and is an outstanding partner and public servant."

Long-term donors to Trump: The Democratic Party needs a complete reboot

However, after the defeat of the Democratic Party, the party began to review the problem and assign responsibility. Some have accused Democrats of concealing Biden's mental health until they saw his poor debate performance. One Democratic donor asked, "Why did Biden hold out so long? He shouldn't have hidden [his health] and should have quit a long time ago."

An aide to Harris told Reuters that her loyalty to Biden doomed her from the start. Given Mr. Biden's low approval ratings, the aide said, the outcome might have been different if Democrats had put forward a candidate with clear lines and different policy proposals.

"The Democratic Party needs a complete reboot," hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wrote on social media platform X. Mr Ackerman, a long-time Democratic donor, has backed Mr Trump.

As of press time, Edison Research had calculated that Trump had won 294 of 538 electoral votes, while Harris had won 223. According to the New York Times, in 90 percent of the counties that have nearly completed counting, Trump's margin of victory is larger than in 2020. Trump is expected to become the first Republican candidate to win the national popular vote since 2004.

Tweaking polling data is not enough to make up for forecasting problems

As in the past two elections, US pollsters once again underestimated Mr Trump's support; In 2016, they did not predict a Trump victory; In 2020, they overestimated that Biden would get a lot more votes than Trump.

"They fail to provide the key message that Trump's support is rising across the board," Georgetown University political science professor David Bailey told AFP of the poll's performance.

Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, said: "Trump may be slightly underestimated, but I think the overall polling is doing well, not much wrong." The polls showed Trump had a decent chance of winning, and he did."

In fact, since Trump entered politics, US pollsters have been facing a problem, that is, some of his supporters refuse to participate in polls, increasing the difficulty of predicting the election result. Although pollsters try to make up for this by tweaking the data, there is clearly a shortfall.