Voter Insights: How ‘Freedom’ and ‘Power’ Define the 2024 Election with Trump and Harris

The race for the presidency has narrowed down to a fundamental choice: freedom versus power, as revealed by a recent survey of likely voters.

The survey highlights how the perceptions of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have been distilled into singular defining words by Americans.

In a poll involving 300 voters from seven key swing states, respondents were asked to convey in one word what they believed Kamala Harris aimed to achieve in office. The top responses were ‘freedom,’ ‘equality,’ and ‘middle class.’

In contrast, when asked about Trump, the dominant words were ‘power,’ ‘dictator,’ and ‘revenge.’ Notably, ‘revenge’ emerged as the leading response in a previous survey conducted by DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners at the end of last year.

This data indicates that both political campaigns have been somewhat successful in communicating their core messages to the electorate.

Moreover, it reflects how the Harris campaign has adeptly adopted some traditionally Republican themes by presenting the vice president as a champion of ‘freedom.’

Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ has been the candidate’s theme song, soundtracking rallies and adverts. The campaign is running a ‘Fighting for Reproductive Freedom’ bus tour and she has sold her gun control message as the freedom to be safe from violence.

There are negatives in her word cloud, with some respondents using the terms ‘communism’ and ‘socialism’ as well as ‘chaos.’

But it is a far cry from Biden’s word cloud last December. When voters were asked what they expected from a second term, they said overwhelmingly: ‘Nothing.’

Conservative commentator Matt K. Lewis said he was stunned the two candidates, could be so close in the polls when voters had such distinct ideas: ‘freedom’ and ‘middle class’ on the one hand, and ‘power’ and ‘dictator’ on the other

‘My only conclusion is that there are a lot of Americans out there who simply don’t care, which is a scary thought,’ he said

‘On the other hand, this suggests that Harris is doing a pretty darn good job of messaging.’

Harris enjoyed a huge polling and fundraising lift after becoming the Democrats’ nominee.

However, the latest polls suggest her honeymoon is coming to an end.

‘Freedom’ features heavily in the Harris campaign – as seen here on 

A New York Times/Siena College poll at the weekend found that Trump had regained his lead, albeit by just one point. 

Both campaigns can take something positive away from the word clouds, said J.L. Partners co-founder James Johnson, who said both seemed to be landing the messages they wanted with voters. 

‘For Harris, her message of “freedom,” and her attempts to steal a traditional Republican strength, is resonating. And Trump has moved from “revenge” being the main thing associated with his plans to “power.”

‘Voters might not view Trump’s plans as those of a gentle father of the nation, but they do associate him with strength, a major vote driver come November.’

Trump has sought to drawn a contrast with the current administration and what he sees as its weakness and, including the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the way it emboldened adversaries such as Vladimir Putin of Russia.

He ends each rally with a call to restore U.S. strength.

‘We will put America First and we will take back our country together, we will make America powerful again; we will make America wealthy again; we will make America healthy again; we will make America strong again; we will make America proud again; we will make America safe again; we will make America free again; and we will Make America Great Again,’ he says above stirring music.

The DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners election model now gives the former president a 55 percent chance of winning the election, a 4.5-point lift since last week.

The decision by Robert Kennedy Jr. to remove his name from ballots in some states has given Trump a lift. 

It means the former president now has a 60 percent chance of Pennsylvania, while in Michigan Harris has seen her probability of success dropping from 64 percent to 52 percent (although on Monday, the state supreme court reversed the decision which will help Harris.’