It Wasn't Sexism That Lost It For Clinton; She Was a Terrible Candidate

By Ashe Schow

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

As Hillary Clinton's chances to win the presidency rapidly faded away, her supporters began blaming sexism (naturally) and racism for her defeat.

This was going to be the claim made throughout a Clinton presidency, mind you. Any opposition to her policies would have been shouted down as sexism. For four years, I was expecting I'd have to have to write articles called "No, Hillary, it's not sexist to disagree with you on government broccoli regulations."

It never occurs to these people that it might just be her policy positions, or her numerous lies, corruption scandals and unlikeability that led people to vote for someone else.

As for racism, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but voted for Donald Trump in 2016. So they could vote for the first African-American president twice but now they're suddenly racist?

Also, Clinton lost ground with multiple demographic groups while Trump gained. Despite being labeled a horrible racist, Trump increased the GOP share of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans. In 2012, African-Americans voted for Obama over Mitt Romney 93-6. In 2016, Clinton won African Americans over Trump 88-8 percent. That's a five-point drop for Clinton and a two-point gain for Trump.

With Hispanics, same story. In 2012, they chose Obama over Romney 71-27 percent. In 2016, they chose Clinton over Trump 65-29 percent. That's a six-point drop for Clinton and a two-point gain for Trump, which together come out to a statistically significant sum. And that's even after the media spent more than a year repeating the claim that Trump called all Hispanics "rapists" and "criminals."

Clinton was not a clean candidate running as the first woman president. She might have been the worst woman who could have run. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is probably kicking herself for declining to run right now.

Clinton and her foundation were under FBI investigation. FBI Director James Comey said this summer that she potentially violated the law by mishandling classified information, and the reason she wasn't indicted is that he claimed she had no intent and that no "reasonable" prosecutor would take the case. Her closing argument was basically that she'd beaten the rap.

As much as her supporters tried to hold her up as this strong, amazing candidate, she was severely flawed. America is ready for a female president, and has been for a long time — but not for her.

But prepare for weeks of pundits, activists and the media at large claiming that sexism and racism led to Clinton's downfall. In reality, she was an unlikable candidate with an airport's worth of baggage that made her untrustworthy and unfit for the presidency.

Not that Trump was any better, but the voters seemed to feel that an unknown Trump presidency was preferable to the known corruption of a (Hillary) Clinton presidency.