According to one poll conducted on October 25, 2024, 49% of Americans saw Trump as a fascist, described as "a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents".

[26][27][28] The New York Times reported that both candidates "embraced a vision of a powerful federal government, using its muscle to intervene in markets in pursuit of a stronger and more prosperous economy.

[32] Republicans argued that the economy was better while they were in office,[33] and promised to quickly bring down inflation, increase tariffs, and cut taxes and regulations.

[38] By June 2024, illegal crossings reached a three-year low following four consecutive monthly drops, which senior government officials attributed to increased enforcement between the United States and Mexico, the weather, and Biden's executive order which increased asylum restrictions,[39] but were still higher than average numbers recorded by the former Trump administration.

Republican-controlled states predominantly passed near-total bans on abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

[41] According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there were 15 states that had de jure early stage bans on abortion explicitly without exceptions for rape or incest: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

[42] Abortion referendums were on the ballot in 10 states in 2024: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota.

[49][50] According to a campaign finance analysis by Politico, AIPAC was the "biggest source of Republican money flowing into competitive Democratic primaries this year.

Three Democratic-held seats up for election were in the heavily Republican-leaning states of Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia, all of which were won comfortably by Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

Major U.S. cities saw incumbent mayors re-elected, including Phoenix, Arizona (Kate Gallego);[86] Bakersfield (Karen Goh),[87] Costa Mesa (John Stephens), Fresno (Jerry Dyer),[88] Riverside (Patricia Lock Dawson),[89] San Diego (Todd Gloria), and San Jose, California (Matt Mahan);[90] Bridgeport, Connecticut (Joe Ganim);[91] Miami-Dade County, Florida (Daniella Levine Cava);[92] Honolulu, Hawaii (Rick Blangiardi);[93] Baltimore, Maryland (Brandon Scott);[94] Austin (Kirk Watson)[95] and Corpus Christi, Texas (Paulette Guajardo);[96] Salt Lake County, Utah (Jenny Wilson); Virginia Beach, Virginia (Bobby Dyer);[97] Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Cavalier Johnson);[98] and Cheyenne, Wyoming (Patrick Collins).

[89] Open mayoral seats were won in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska (Grier Hopkins);[100] Mesa, Arizona (Mark Freeman);[101] Sacramento (Kevin McCarty)[102] and Stockton, California (Christina Fugazi);[103] Wilmington, Delaware (John Carney);[104] Grand Rapids, Michigan (David LaGrand);[105] Las Vegas, Nevada (Shelley Berkley); Raleigh, North Carolina (Janet Cowell); Tulsa, Oklahoma (Monroe Nichols); Portland, Oregon (Keith Wilson); El Paso (Renard Johnson)[106] and Lubbock, Texas (Mark McBrayer);[107] Burlington, Vermont (Emma Mulvaney-Stanak);[108] Alexandria (Alyia Gaskins)[109] and Richmond, Virginia (Danny Avula);[110] Huntington (Patrick Farrell) and Wheeling, West Virginia (Denny Magruder);[111] and Kenosha, Wisconsin (David Bogdala).

[112] In Pueblo, Colorado, a runoff of the 2023 election was held in January, resulting in city councilor Heather Graham defeating mayor Nick Gradisar in his bid for re-election.

[113] In Anchorage, Alaska, incumbent mayor Dave Bronson lost re-election to a second three-year term against independent Suzanne LaFrance.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, mayor Dave Ortega lost re-election to attorney Lisa Borowsky in a rematch of the 2020 election.

[117] In Fayetteville, Arkansas, longtime mayor Lioneld Jordan lost a runoff election against Molly Rawn, the city's tourism director.

[118] In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sid Edwards was elected as the first Republican mayor-president of the city since 2004, defeating incumbent Sharon Weston Broome in her bid for a third term.

[121] Also in January, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community elevated Cole Miller from vice chair to tribal chairman,[122] Debra O'Gara was elected President of the Petersburg Indian Association in Alaska,[123] Fred L. Romero was elected governor of the Taos Pueblo, and Craig Quanchello was named governor of the Picuris Pueblo.

[125][126] In March, the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma reelected Durell Cooper III as tribal chairman and Matthew Tselee as vice-chairman.

[130] Michael Q. Primus II, Ben Lucero Wolf, Tiya "Tanequodle" Rosario, and Warren Quetone were elected to the Kiowa Tribe's legislature.

[131] The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Idaho elected Lee Juan Tyler as chair of the Fort Hall Business Council.

[134] Charles Diebold was reelected chief of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation while Cynthia Bauer and John White Eagle were elected to the tribe's business committee.

The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma elected Abraham Lincoln, Perri Ahhaitty, and Christie Modlin to the business committee.

[135] Matthew Wesaw was reelected to a fourth term as chair of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians tribal council.

[138] In August, Kathleen Wooden Knife won an open-seat race to become the first woman elected President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

On July 13, 2024, during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump was shot in a failed assassination attempt.

On September 15, 2024, Trump's security detail spotted an armed man while the former President was touring his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In the location where the suspect was spotted, the police retrieved a modified SKS rifle with a scope, two rucksacks and a GoPro in what was called by the FBI a second assassination attempt.

[154] The 2024 election cycle had been marked by widespread doxxing, swatting, and threats against several politicians and activists, with a particular series of incidents starting in December 2023.

The efforts largely focused on propaganda and disinformation campaigns using inauthentic accounts on social media, stoking domestic divisions, and denigrating the United States and democracy more broadly.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise, accusing it of creating and disseminating AI-generated deepfake videos to manipulate American voters.