As Democrats search for answers after Tuesday’s crushing defeat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked her supporters to share why they voted for Donald Trump.
The congresswoman, who was comfortably reelected as New York’s 14th Congressional representative last week, asked her 8 million Instagram followers why they backed Trump for the presidential election but voted Democrat in down-ballot races.
“If you voted for Donald Trump and me, or if you voted for Donald Trump and voted Democratic down-ballot, I would really love to hear from you,” she posted in an Instagram story on Sunday.
“This is not a place of judgment, I’m not gonna put your stuff on blast or anything like that or dunk on it. That is genuinely not the intent here,” she said. “I actually want to learn from you, I want to hear what you’re thinking.”
The Bronx and Queens Democrat shared some of the responses and may have been surprised when some of her followers compared her to the president-elect.
“I feel like Trump and you are both real,” one person said.
“You also signified change. Trump signified change. I’ve said lately, Trump sounds more like you,” another wrote.
“It’s real simple…Trump and you care for the working class,” someone else said.
“I feel that you both are outsiders compared to the rest of DC and less ‘establishment,’” one her followers added, while another said: “You are focused on the real issues people care about. Similar to Trump populism in some ways.”
Others said they voted for Ocasio-Cortez and Trump because of the war in Gaza and disappointment with the Biden administration.
Responding to a follower who said some of the answers made them “want to barf,” Ocasio-Cortez said: “Sometimes you gotta dig in and see it to understand and adapt! Even if it makes you want to barf.”
A senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill told the New York Post that the informal survey showed that the Democrats have to “figure out how to harvest authenticity.”
“That’s who wins,” they told the newspaper. “Trump is authentic. Harris was grown in a lab. People can tell.”
Some Democrats think swapping Joe Biden for Kamala Harris was their deadly mistake. Others have blamed Biden himself, saying he took far too long to drop out.
Progressives point to the Biden administration’s stance on Israel and the Harris campaign’s attempts to appeal to moderates and anti-Trump Republicans.
