DEI Lessons from the 2024 Presidential election

What surprised me the most about the 2024 US Presidential elections was that I was surprised. You might remember how I was cautiously optimistic about the election's likely outcome in my last newsletter. I thought young men might stay home, and Harris’s message would be strong enough.

We now know that Donald Trump won every swing state. 60% of White men voted for him, and 53% of White women voted for him, too. Compared to 2020, Trump?increased his margin with Latino and Black men. Nine million Biden voters stayed home.?

I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, I have a PhD in political science and work in DEI, and rhetoric about DEI was everywhere this election year. For the record: “D” or “diversity” focuses on representation (race, gender, religion, education, etc.). Diversity focuses on people’s differences and the perspectives they bring to the table. It’s about equal rights and rooting out discrimination. To get the benefits of diversity, we also need equity and inclusion. “E,” as in “equity,” recognizes that inequalities exist—that talent is equally distributed across all communities, but opportunity is not. The goal is for everybody to have what they need to be successful and contribute to the larger good. “I” (for “inclusion”) is about how well the contributions, presence, and perspectives of different groups of people are valued and integrated.

My work at the Competence Centre for Diversity & Inclusion at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland intersects academic research with practice: I support organizations in implementing evidence-backed DEI policies and programs. So yes, I should have seen that the Democratic Party was getting DEI disastrously wrong. For today’s essay, I’m sharing some insights from my experience working with organizations to pinpoint their DEI issues — and applying them to the 2024 election.

I don’t really have answers yet. I hope to devote more time to the difficult questions raised in this essay in the future as I’m learning and reading and thinking about the subject. But here is a start.

This is personal to me in more ways than one: Not only will a Trump presidency affect the rest of the world in various ways (climate, trade, security,…), but I also lived in the US for a decade; it’s where I got my BA and PhD. Many people I love live there.

DEI and the 2024 Presidential elections

As Democrats are deep in the trenches of the blame game, DEI, and identity politics are once more in the limelight. DEI was ubiquitous in the 2024 election cycle. For example: Trump accused Harris of playing "the race card." Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) called Harris a “DEI vice president” on social media, and to CNN, he quipped: “When you go down that route, you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now.” (On social media, anti-DEI rabble-rousers declare that the acronym stands for “Didn’t Earn It.”)

Elsewhere, the DEI backlash was in full swing. By mid-2024, more than 30 states had introduced or enacted laws curtailing or eliminating DEI initiatives in higher education. Bill Ackman and Elon Musk (him again!) ?made posts on social media that decried diversity programs. Ford, Harley Davidson, Zoom, Bank of America, Target, and Goldman Sachs eliminated or scaled back their DEI programs. Social media scum Robby Starbuck was waging war on “woke” corporate policies, and his following exploded as he took companies like the Tractor Supply Company to task for offering DEI training, among similar “sins.” Last year, the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action. The Harvard Business Review recently asked,?"Is DEI dead in the US?”

Then, Democratic lawmakers entered the chat. In mid-October, 49 House Democrats signed an open letter to Fortune 1000 CEOs asking them to affirm their commitment to workplace equality initiatives amid heightened backlash and legal challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. (The American electorate famously LOVES political meddling in business affairs.)

In the post-loss wreckage, some Democratic National Committee members are concluding that the Party has become “too “woke,” too focused on identity politics and too out of touch with broad stretches of America.” To me, that’s the wrong takeaway. The Democratic Party has a proud history of fighting for women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and racial equality. They should fight these fights; someone has to!

However, the Harris campaign and its surrogates (and the Biden White House) didn’t make clear why DEI is vital for American Democracy. And they focused almost entirely on “D” (i.e., diversity) and forgot that the “I” (inclusion) and “E” (equity) are vital parts of the DEI equation. In short, they made the same mistake many organizations make in their DEI efforts, and in my experience, the key reasons why those efforts often fail.

The missing “why” of DEI

At the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention, Trump was asked by ?ABC News’ Rachel Scott if he considered calling his opponent a “DEI hire” acceptable language (spoiler: It’s not).3 He answered with a question: “How do you define DEI? Go ahead.” Scott responded curtly, her voice dripping with feigned incredulity that he would even ask her that: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion…?” “Is that your definition?” Trump pushed further. “Those are literally the words,” Scott countered and clearly considered the matter closed.?

Yet, Scott didn’t actually define diversity, equity, and inclusion. Likewise, the Harris campaign (and the Democratic Party) did not have a convincing explanation for what DEI is and, more importantly, why it matters. Rather, they spent far too much time playing defense to Republican character assassination of "DEI" as anathema to meritocracy. They allowed Trump and his cronies effectively to reduce DEI to one narrow (if important!!!) issue — trans rights. Campaign ads focusing on transgender issues were some of the most-aired attacks against Democrats, including one prolific spot from Donald Trump with the tagline: “Kamala’s For They/Them. President Trump is for you.”

Yet, the Democrats had seemingly no DEI vision of their own. When interviewed on Fox News, Harris was asked about her stance on taxpayer-funded gender medicine in prisons. “I will follow the law,” Harris said. Her response included nothing about why it’s important to fight for trans rights, how this connects to Democratic Party values, etc.

The best DEI narrative connects to personal values and explains the issues. Luckily, there are role models in the Democratic Party for doing better. Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, has a succinct, authentic explanation of why he supports LGBTQ rights. Remember: Beshear won re-election last year by 5 points; Donald Trump carried his state by a whopping 30 points. Democrats, take note.

Earning trust and showing people you care about them also require that we talk to people like normal human beings. And that we are not afraid to share our “why.” For me, my why is my faith, and I share it proudly. I vetoed anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation last year because I believe all children are children of God. And whether people agree with my decision, they know why I’m making it. They know where I am coming from.

Inclusion and equity are essential to DEI success

The second major DEI problem plaguing the Harris campaign was that inclusion and equity weren’t part of the narrative.

If diversity is pushed without concurrently focusing on inclusion, this can lead to conflicts and resentment. This is true in organizations and, it turns out, electoral campaigns, too.

A few years ago, I discussed career prospects with a good friend (a White, western European man) who worked at a large finance institution. “It’s really frustrating,” he answered. “At [Insert Company Name Here], you can’t even get promoted anymore if you’re not a Black woman or something.” I knew for a fact this was not true, as I happened to have access to his company’s HR data through my work, and men were still comparatively more likely to be promoted (unfortunately, this was not information I could share with my friend). As a matter of fact, my friend got promoted the very same year!

My friend’s company was in the middle of a big diversity push - employee resource groups for women and employees of color, gender quotas for top management, etc. - without including their employees in the process (what fears and concerns did they have?). They also didn’t communicate how they were implementing transparent promotion and hiring criteria with the goal of ensuring that the best candidate would get selected rather than the best-connected candidate. Instead, people like my friend (who was about to start a family and was genuinely worried about his career trajectory) felt left behind. That company didn’t reap the potential benefits of a diverse workplace; instead, it had a company full of angry, misinformed employees, which does not bode well for company culture.

In a nutshell, this is what happened with the Democratic Party and its platform. Please don’t cancel me, but we need to talk about (mostly but not only White, young) men.

“A big cratering,” a “fatal miscalculation.” According to preliminary exit polling, 56% of men between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for Trump, while just 40% of their female peers did so. This is a significant shift since 2020. The Trump campaign made a conscious effort to connect with this electorate. Apart from Joe Rogan’s podcast (which I refuse to link to), Trump also appeared on shows hosted by people like Von, internet pranksters Nelk Boys, YouTuber Logan Paul, and Adin Ross, a live streaming gamer who has repeatedly been banned from sites for violating rules on offensive language. (Internet, I beg of you: Never make me read the term “manosphere” again.)

The Democrats made no overtures to this group. Under “Who We Serve,” the Democratic Party’s website lists women but not men. At the DNC, young men weren’t mentioned or featured in any policy proposals. Men are up to 4 times as likely to die by suicide in the US than women; they are less likely to be college-educated and more likely to be depressed. Yet, when essays and think pieces about the sharp rise of loneliness among young men proliferated, left-leaning social media piped up quickly that they were, in fact, sick of hearing about lonely White men. I don’t have the answer to the “epidemic” of young male loneliness, but I know that derision isn’t it. (There was in fact one pro-Harris ad that courted young men, with the key message: “Be a man and vote for a woman.” Unsurprisingly, it changed very few hearts and minds.)

The 2024 election would have been a good moment to show just how DEI is the “tide that raises all boats” and that politicians, managers, etc., should combine these values to drive policy and resource allocation in a way that benefits all. DEI is not a zero-sum game, though many men perceive that it is. According to the White Men's Leadership Study, a study of White men and DEI, nearly 70% report feeling “forgotten” by diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Feeling uncertain about whether or how DEI includes them is why they disengage. As they did in this election.

Finally, the Democratic Party also fundamentally failed to connect with working-class voters. In my opinion, this is closely related to the concept of equity: Equitable policies are about ensuring everyone has a chance to be successful. This is not the case in the US. A few days ago, I was texting with a political science professor friend in the States. His take was this: “I think it goes deeper than party leadership. The Democratic Party fundamentally stands for a neoliberalism of DEI programming without redistribution.”?

The 2024 election clearly showed that not everyone feels they can get ahead. In what is now called the “grocery bill election,” voters voted with their wallets. Indeed, it seems that it’s (partly) the economy, stupid. Among voters who never attended college, Trump won 59 percent to 40 percent, according to AP Votecast. College graduates voted for Harris, 56 percent to 42 percent. Voters who earn $100,000 a year or more — who made up about a third of the electorate — chose Harris by an 8-point margin, while those who make less than that titled slightly toward Trump.

“Identity politics” and “fighting for the working class” aren’t contradictory concepts. As the sociologist William Julius Wilson points out, racial disadvantages are so closely intertwined with social class disadvantages that remediation of the former is impossible without attention to the latter. In the US, the poverty rate for Black people is 2.5 times as high as for White people; the poverty rate for Black women is even higher. Stacy Abrams put the importance of not putting voters into single categories in eloquent words:

“A single mother worried about grocery prices is often the same woman fighting for reproductive rights, and heaven help her if she's a woman of color. A factory worker worried about job security might also be an immigrant whose mixed-status family has a future that hangs in the balance. They can all be true."

Fundamentally, the Democratic Party either didn’t understand the needs and wants of the American people, or they didn’t care enough. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said about likely Trump voters one week before the election. Trump, meanwhile, said, matter-of-factly: “I love the poorly educated!” These two quotes speak for themselves. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) agrees: “The reason we didn’t win, ultimately, is we didn’t listen enough to people on the ground.” Successful DEI policies are built on the needs, issues and perceptions of the people they purport to represent. This is where the work needs to start.

Conclusion and a personal research agenda

The Democratic Party needs to figure out how DEI fits into its vision of American democracy and convey the message that championing the rights of one group does not detract from the struggles of another.

Yes, I wrote a long essay without providing much guidance on exactly how one might apply DEI principles to intra-party decision-making or how one might translate DEI into a successful party platform. As a researcher, I don’t like quick takes. Instead, I will add this to my personal research agenda and report back. Stay tuned, and I’d love to know what you think.