Voting rights activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams emphasized that the United States was almost “evenly divided” during the 2024 presidential election, in which President-elect Trump prevailed over Vice President Harris.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday, Abrams, who has faced two losses in her gubernatorial campaigns, remarked, “Donald Trump won the election, but it wasn’t a landslide. It was an evenly divided nation. He got more people, but this was not the seismic shift where 57, 58 percent of America said no.”
She elaborated, stating, “It was less than 50 percent of the electorate who said this is what we want.” According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Trump secured 49.8 percent of the popular vote, while Harris received 48.3 percent.
Despite winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote, PBS reported that Trump’s margins over Harris were small by historical standards. His victory was noted as the fourth-smallest since 1960, with Trump defeating Harris by 1.62 percent based on votes counted through November 20—a narrower margin than any since 2000, when George W. Bush edged Al Gore by just over half a percentage point.
In battleground states, Trump performed well, regaining Georgia, retaining North Carolina, and breaking the “blue wall.” PBS reported that he achieved his victories in these crucial swing states with “particularly wide margins.”
During her interview with MSNBC, Abrams also addressed the concept of “decency” in politics, arguing that while making such choices can be challenging, it can lead to increased confidence.
“Our responsibility is for decency—to show those who stayed home, those who stayed silent, that there is a place for decency and a place for them,” she conveyed to Hayes. “That’s the work that has to be done.” Nevertheless, Abrams cautioned that decency cannot be the sole approach in politics.
She expressed concern that when decency clashes with ignominy—representing shame and disgrace—the latter often holds an advantage. “Ignominy is willing to do things that decency won’t,” Abrams noted. “But that doesn’t mean you abandon decency. I think it means you find other allies.”
