The math is simple.

The reason why President Donald Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 can be “explained in one chart,” veteran reporter Chris Cillizza wrote on X.

“Why Democrats lost, explained in 1 chart (this is taken from a recent NYT-Ipsos poll),” Cillizza posted, along with a screengrab of a poll from The New York Times that asked Americans their most important issues.

The issues broke down among groups:

Themselves personally:

1. The economy
2. Health care
3. Immigration
4. Taxes
5. Crime

Democratic Party

1. Abortion
2. LGBT policy
3. Climate change
4. The state of democracy
5. Health care

Republican Party

1. Immigration
2. The economy
3. Taxes
4. Guns
5. Abortion

Simply put, the GOP was better suited among the electorate, per the poll.

AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found that the fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Harris’ supporters. It was a sign that the Democratic nominee’s messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through.

By contrast, Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president hammered since the start of his campaign. Trump pledged that tariffs would bring back factory jobs and that greater domestic oil production would flow through the economy and lower prices.

Overall, the presidential candidates’ coalitions, based on race, education and community type, appeared largely similar to the 2020 results. Preliminary AP VoteCast findings, however, hinted at some shifts among demographic groups that could be meaningful for the ultimate outcome, including among younger, Black and Hispanic voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.