Did the election turn on Democratic vote losses rather than Republican gains?
Core argument: Kamala Harris earned about 7 million fewer votes than Joseph R. Biden Jr. did in 2020, a decline as consequential to the outcome as Donald Trump's gains.
Donald Trump improved on his totals, adding about 2.5 million more votes than four years ago. But just as consequential to the outcome were Kamala Harris’s losses: She earned about 7 million fewer votes compared with Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s performance in 2020. Ms. Harris failed to find new voters in three of the seven swing states and in 80% of counties across the country, a New York Times analysis shows. In the places where she matched or exceeded Mr. Biden’s vote totals, she failed to match Mr. Trump’s gains.

