I’m not sure that it couldn’t have made a difference. If every Biden voter from 2020 turned out for Harris, it could have swung some states. Enough states? Idk. But yeah, I have to imagine that Gaza was a major contributor to losing most of those votes.
As for everyone else, inflation was a major factor in this election. The current administration has (unfairly) taken the blame for all of it. The average person (even active voters) just doesn’t care to understand how the economy works. They must think the President has a lever in the oval office that controls gas and egg prices and refuses to lower it. They also think the national economy exists in a vacuum independent of the rest of the world instead of being influenced by a global economy beyond the control of any single office or nation. They blame their leadership for a problem that literally the whole world is currently facing. It’s not just a US problem either, as evidenced by election upsets for incumbent administrations across the world. People feel like their leaders have failed and have punished them for it.
So you’re nostalgic for the Golden age? How old are you?