Some New Yorkers support Trump and AOC. Their reasons offer insights into split-ticket voting

Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 election revealed an overwhelming nationwide shift to the right. Interestingly, though, in several states where Trump prevailed over Vice President Kamala Harris in the general election, constituents chose down-ballot Democratic candidates over their Republican counterparts.

In Michigan, Trump won the general election overall, but Democratic Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin won the state’s open seat. Wisconsin, which President Joe Biden won in 2020, reelected Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin despite turning in favor of Trump. And North Carolina elected Democrat Josh Stein for governor while supporting Trump for president.

This pattern, which played out across multiple states this election, is partially attributable to a subsection of the populace called “split-ticket voters,” or those who vote for candidates from different parties rather than sticking with one party line.

In a series of Instagram stories posted yesterday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was reelected by New York’s 14th congressional district, asked split-ticket voters directly to share the reasoning behind their votes.

While New York was won by Harris, the state still drifted right—along with the rest of the country—in this recent election. As of last Thursday, Trump appears to have flipped five New York counties previously won by Biden, and Harris also seems to have won New York City by a substantially smaller margin than Biden in 2020.

On her Instagram, AOC appealed directly to voters who “voted for Donald Trump and me, or voted for Donald Trump and voted Democratic down-ballot” to respond with their thought process—especially given that AOC has openly denounced Trump’s policies for years.

Granted, AOC’s Instagram audience may not reflect a representative sample of the typical split-ticket voter, something she seemed to acknowledge when she confessed during the video that she wasn’t sure if anyone who fits the profile would even be watching.

Voters did respond, however, and their responses offer an interesting window into their thinking: In follow-up stories, Ocasio-Cortez posted some of the main reasons why voters said they split their ticket and voted for her and Trump:

The economy and the working class

Several respondents cited a sense that both AOC and Trump had the interests of the average citizen in mind. “It’s real simple . . . Trump and you care for the working class,” one user wrote. Others added that AOC and Trump were focused on “the real issues that people care about” and that they were both “real.”

These responses aren’t particularly surprising; an October Gallup poll found the economy to be the top issue on voters’ minds for the then-upcoming election (54% of participants ranked it as “extremely important”).

General desire for change

Some have termed the 2024 election the “change” election, referring to the idea that many voters were broadly dissatisfied with Biden’s administration. More than half of voters reported in an AP survey that they wanted to see “substantial change” in how the country is run, with three out of 10 respondents claiming that they wanted “total upheaval.”

Responses to AOC’s query reflected that trend. “Wanted change so I went with Trump and blue for the rest of the ballot,” one user wrote. Another added that they “felt like I didn’t have a choice after Biden’s administration,” and a third commented that both AOC and Trump “signified change.”

Distrust of “establishment” politicians

Another common thread was a distrust in “establishment” politicians and the sentiment that AOC and Trump, despite their vastly opposing viewpoints, are both political outsiders.

“Voted Trump, but I like you and Bernie,” one commenter wrote. “I don’t trust either party establishment politicians.” That sentiment was echoed by a user who explained, “I feel that you are both outsiders to the rest of DC, and less ‘establishment.’”

The war in Gaza

Finally, several users pointed to the ongoing war in Gaza as the deciding factor behind their split-ticket vote, especially given fears that a Harris presidency might handle the war in a similar fashion to the current Biden administration. While Trump has called for an end to the war in Gaza, he’s also repeatedly reiterated his support of Israel.

“Voted for trump and you, not genocide harris,” said one user. Another argued, “[Trump] speaks of war as something that is bad. Democrats became the party that supports war.”

In her series of stories, AOC repeatedly clarified that she wasn’t coming from a place of judgment, emphasizing that “I actually want to learn from you”—a message that seems aimed to cut through the endless noise of poll-based election postmortems to actually hear from voters themselves.