As many Americans are still trying to process the surprising election results, even ardent anti-Trumpers are engaging in the blame game.

Or as some have put it, “woke is broke.”

A post-election survey by the Democratic firm Blueprint (https://blueprint2024.com) stated that the top three reasons Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump were rising inflation, too many migrants coming into the country and the Democratic nominee’s perceived emphasis on “cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class.”

This as Trump is quickly assembling a team of hardliners on immigration, with the incoming president’s promise his administration will begin mass deportations of people in this country illegally.

So how could so many Hispanic and young voters have gone for Trump? Progressive New York “Squad” leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Monday revealed some surprising responses she got from among her 8 million Instagram followers, some of whom voted for Trump – and for her.

Ocasio-Cortez who was easily re-elected, said she asked the question to learn more about Harris’ loss, which stunned Democratic Party leaders including her.

“It’s really simple… trump and you (AOC) care for the working class,” said one respondent, reflecting the massive shift toward the Republican Party among non-college-educated voters since 2016. Others said Democrats had lost the thread on issues they cared about. Significantly fewer voters in her overwhelmingly Democratic district voted for Harris than for Joe Biden in 2020.

AOC is closely allied with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who was one of the first progressive politicians to offer the Democratic Party an election post-mortem.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” said Sanders.

Most Santa Cruz County voters, however, seemingly did not feel abandoned by the Democrats, with about 75 percent supporting Harris, in the votes counted as of Friday afternoon.

The local vote was predictably liberal in terms of the environment (Measure Q, the local water and wildlife initiative, will win) and on some state ballot measures – with the significant exception of Proposition 36.

In this county, so far, about 55 percent voted Yes on 36 – a decisive vote, though below the overwhelming 70 percent of voters in California who supported the measure, despite opposition from Gov. Gavin Newsom and leading Democrats.

This initiative will now stiffen penalties for theft and drug offenses and rolls back parts of a 2014 ballot measure, which had effectively eliminated penalties for drug possession and theft of less than $950. The measure was backed by voters in all state counties. Along with the removal of two progressive district attorneys – one in Los Angeles County, the other in Alameda County – the results show voters have had it with what they see as surging crime and public disorder.

Local voters (about 58 percent at this point) also joined the decisive vote against the latest attempt for rent control, rejecting Prop. 33, which would have removed restrictions on local rent control. The initiative lost in all 58 counties.

State voters also turned thumbs down on Prop. 5, a measure put on the ballot by Democrats that would have eroded the state’s Prop. 13 property-tax cap. Prop. 5 sought to reduce the constitutional super-majority requirement for voters to pass bonds for low-income housing and public works. Somewhat surprisingly, about 51 percent of local voters so far are against the measure.

Another measure, Prop. 32, to raise the state minimum wage to $18 an hour from $16 also is headed for defeat. About 60 percent of Santa Cruz County voters, probably reflecting the cost of living here, supported the hike, however. County voters also went against the conservative tide by supporting Prop. 4, that would have meant prisoners cannot be forced to work. The measure was rejected by state voters.