Lesser Evil Politics and the Limits of U.S. Electoral Choice

The argument

When voters are told that every election is existential, but neither major party offers a convincing break with militarism and corporate power, “lesser evil” politics can become a trap. This is an opinion argument about that trap—not a claim that one election alone will cause the fall of the United States.

What happened in 2024

In November 2024, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris. The Federal Election Commission’s official results record 312 electoral votes for Trump and 226 for Harris. The outcome deserves explanation, not a story that blames voters as a single bloc. For a related discussion of U.S. foreign policy, read The U.S. does not protect human rights—it weaponizes them..

Why voters chose differently

Harris’s campaign drew left criticism for maintaining support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, defending a strong border policy and offering limited economic change. The defeat cannot be reduced to one issue. Pew’s pre-election survey showed voters dividing sharply over the economy, immigration, health care and abortion, while party identity and candidate evaluations also shaped the result.

What “lesser evilism” means

“Lesser evilism” is more than a judgment about one candidate. It is a recurring strategy: ask voters to treat the opposing party as uniquely dangerous, while giving the preferred party little reason to answer demands from its own coalition. That can produce short-term defensive voting and long-term disillusionment. The record of U.S. policy also gives critics substantial ground. Barack Obama apologized after the 2015 U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, and the CIA’s fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan to search for Osama bin Laden damaged trust in public-health workers. These facts support criticism of U.S. power; they do not prove that every liberal reform or voter choice is meaningless.

Pew Research Center on issues in the 2024 election · Doctors Without Borders on the Kunduz attack · CSIS on the CIA vaccination campaign

Evidence versus overstatement

A stronger left argument separates evidence from prediction. The United States has used military force and sanctions abroad while presenting itself as a defender of a rules-based order; critics can document particular cases and debate their consequences. But calling every opponent a “war criminal,” or saying no major U.S. war has been won since 1945, turns political judgment into a sweeping factual verdict. The 2024 result also does not establish that low turnout caused the defeat. Pew’s post-election review describes a varied electorate and mixed motivations; claims about why millions voted require evidence, not a single explanation. Pew’s review of voters’ reflections on the 2024 campaign.

U.S. power beyond elections

The same care is needed when discussing U.S. power abroad. The dollar remains the leading international currency, although its share of disclosed foreign-exchange reserves has declined over time. Federal Reserve data show it still had a far larger reserve share in 2024 than the renminbi. Local-currency trade, BRICS expansion, sanctions workarounds, and alternative payment systems are meaningful developments, but they do not mean dollar dominance has already ended. Nor would a less dominant dollar automatically mean the end of U.S. influence. A multipolar world is a process, not a completed event. Federal Reserve data on the dollar’s international role.

The core critique

The core critique of lesser-evil politics remains: if parties can rely on fear of the alternative, they can avoid delivering on popular demands. That is a critique of institutions, campaign strategy, and the limits of a two-party system—not proof that every voter who chooses defensively has been fooled. A durable left politics has to organize beyond election day, build independent pressure, and offer a program people can recognize in their lives. The question is not whether voters should care about an election’s consequences. It is whether political organizations can earn support without asking their base to accept the same failures indefinitely.

Sources and further reading

Sources and further reading: Federal Election Commission, 2024 presidential results · Federal Reserve, the international role of the U.S. dollar