Making the 2024 presidential election a referendum on President-elect Donald Trump was ultimately "political malpractice," according to liberal media pollster Frank Luntz.
"It was too much defining what Trump was, and, Jon, we all know what Trump is," Luntz told ABC's "This Week" host Jonathan Karl. "We experienced him for four years.
"Whoever told her to focus on him committed political malpractice, because in the end you cannot change someone's point of view on him. It was all about her."
The gender gap decided the election, but not in the way Harris' campaign hoped by relying on women to elect the first female president, because Trump was the "voice" for disenfranchised Hillary Clinton voters from 2016 and President Joe Biden male voters in 2020, Luntz added.
"In him they saw someone that represented them," Luntz said. "And with her they saw — and it was great — young women getting excited for the first time, surrounded by women, talking about issues like abortion. That was great for the female vote.
"And men felt ignored. They felt forgotten. And they felt like they didn't even matter."
Ultimately, men "felt betrayed" by the Democrat ticket and repudiated Harris, according to Luntz.
"In the end, the Democratic Party has to keep both of them. It is not enough to capture the women's vote," Luntz added.
"These middle class, middle income moderate men — I call it M-cubed — they're the key to any election, and they felt betrayed by her."