Since Election Day, we’ve been given a series of columns by pundits to explain their reason why the Republicans won, and the Democrats lost, the 2024 Election. Their results tend to focus on opinions and guesses, instead of hard evidence. The reality is that it was a close election with Republicans winning by one of the narrower margins since the 1900s. And the only real mistake the Democrats made was running away from their economic record, instead of embracing it.

A colleague crowed to me the day after the election that it was the biggest landslide since Reagan in 1984. Republicans made it seem like the results were a landslide. Democrats felt like the results were the same. Some wouldn’t even look at my findings that I presented to our local Lions Club, which showed a close election, and the one factor that cost the Democrats this otherwise close contest.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is @JohnTures2.